3D quantitative synthetic MRI-derived cortical thickness and subcortical brain volumes: Scan-rescan repeatability and comparison with conventional T₁ -weighted images

Background: Previous quantitative synthetic MRI of the brain has been solely performed in 2D.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of the recently developed sequence 3D-QALAS for brain cortical thickness and volumetric analysis.

Study type: Reproducibility/repeatability study.

Subjects: Twenty-one healthy volunteers (35.6 ± 13.8 years).

Field strength/sequence: 3D T₁ -weighted fast spoiled gradient recalled echo (FSPGR) sequence was performed once, and 3D-QALAS sequence was performed twice with a 3T scanner.

Assessment: FreeSurfer and FIRST were used to measure cortical thickness and volume of subcortical structures, respectively. Agreement with FSPGR and scan-rescan repeatability were evaluated for 3D-QALAS.

Statistical tests: Percent relative difference and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) were used to assess reproducibility and scan-rescan repeatability of the 3D-QALAS sequence-derived measurements.

Results: Percent relative difference compared with FSPGR in cortical thickness of the whole cortex was 3.1%, and 89% of the regional areas showed less than 10% relative difference in cortical thickness. The mean ICC across all regions was 0.65, and 74% of the structures showed substantial to almost perfect agreement. For volumes of subcortical structures, the median percent relative differences were lower than 10% across all subcortical structures, except for the accumbens area, and all structures showed ICCs of substantial to almost perfect agreement. For the scan-rescan test, percent relative difference in cortical thickness of the whole cortex was 2.3%, and 97% of the regional areas showed less than 10% relative difference in cortical thickness. The mean ICC across all regions was 0.73, and 80% showed substantial to almost perfect agreement. For volumes of subcortical structures, relative differences were less than 10% across all subcortical structures except for the accumbens area, and all structures showed ICCs of substantial to almost perfect agreement.

Data conclusion: 3D-QALAS could be reliably used for measuring cortical thickness and subcortical volumes in most brain regions.

Level of evidence: 3 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2019;50:1834-1842.