Open AccessTractostorm: The what, why, and how of tractography dissection reproducibility
Author(s) -
Rheault Francois,
De Benedictis Alessandro,
Daducci Alessandro,
Maffei Chiara,
Tax Chantal M. W.,
Romascano David,
Caverzasi Eduardo,
Morency Felix C.,
Corrivetti Francesco,
Pestilli Franco,
Girard Gabriel,
Theaud Guillaume,
Zemmoura Ilyess,
Hau Janice,
Glavin Kelly,
Jordan Kesshi M.,
Pomiecko Kristofer,
Chamberland Maxime,
Barakovic Muhamed,
Goyette Nil,
Poulin Philippe,
Chenot Quentin,
Panesar Sandip S.,
Sarubbo Silvio,
Petit Laurent,
Descoteaux Maxime
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.24917
Subject(s) - tractography , protocol (science) , diffusion mri , reproducibility , standardization , bundle , computer science , fractional anisotropy , checklist , segmentation , medical physics , data mining , psychology , artificial intelligence , medicine , radiology , magnetic resonance imaging , pathology , cognitive psychology , statistics , mathematics , materials science , alternative medicine , composite material , operating system
Investigative studies of white matter (WM) brain structures using diffusion MRI (dMRI) tractography frequently require manual WM bundle segmentation, often called “ virtual dissection .” Human errors and personal decisions make these manual segmentations hard to reproduce, which have not yet been quantified by the dMRI community. It is our opinion that if the field of dMRI tractography wants to be taken seriously as a widespread clinical tool, it is imperative to harmonize WM bundle segmentations and develop protocols aimed to be used in clinical settings. The EADC‐ADNI Harmonized Hippocampal Protocol achieved such standardization through a series of steps that must be reproduced for every WM bundle. This article is an observation of the problematic. A specific bundle segmentation protocol was used in order to provide a real‐life example, but the contribution of this article is to discuss the need for reproducibility and standardized protocol, as for any measurement tool. This study required the participation of 11 experts and 13 nonexperts in neuroanatomy and “ virtual dissection ” across various laboratories and hospitals. Intra‐rater agreement (Dice score) was approximately 0.77, while inter‐rater was approximately 0.65. The protocol provided to participants was not necessarily optimal, but its design mimics, in essence, what will be required in future protocols. Reporting tractometry results such as average fractional anisotropy, volume or streamline count of a particular bundle without a sufficient reproducibility score could make the analysis and interpretations more difficult. Coordinated efforts by the diffusion MRI tractography community are needed to quantify and account for reproducibility of WM bundle extraction protocols in this era of open and collaborative science.