Open AccessHarmonization of neuroimaging biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases: A survey in the imaging community of perceived barriers and suggested actions
Author(s) -
Jovicich Jorge,
Barkhof Frederik,
Babiloni Claudio,
Herholz Karl,
Mulert Christoph,
Berckel Bart N.M.,
Frisoni Giovanni B.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia: diagnosis, assessment and disease monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.497
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2352-8729
DOI - 10.1016/j.dadm.2018.11.005
Subject(s) - neuroimaging , harmonization , psychology , neuroscience , medicine , acoustics , physics
Molecular, functional, and structural neuroimaging biomarkers are largely used to study neurodegenerative diseases, but their benefits to patients/science might be greatly enhanced by improving standardization and cross‐validation. In this EU Joint Programme‐Neurodegenerative Diseases Research–funded project, we surveyed the neuroimaging community to assess perceived barriers in multicentric neuroimaging harmonization and actions to overcome them. Methods An anonymous survey addressed researchers, clinicians, pharma industry, and professional associations, inquiring about both general and modality‐specific harmonization barriers. Results Survey participants (459) represented an international (37 countries) multidisciplinary community. We identified two sets of funding actions, one proposing the creation of an updated hub of documents to help researchers plan and execute multicentric neuroimaging studies capitalizing from previous studies, and the other focused on modality‐specific harmonization challenges in future neurodegenerative diseases clinical trials. Discussion This large survey of priorities and actions may help define harmonization calls launched by worldwide science funding agencies.