Christoph Vogelbacher, Jens Sommer, Miriam H A Bopp, Irina Falkenberg, Philipp S Ritter, Felix Bermpohl, Catherine Hindi Attar, Karolin E Einenkel, Oliver Gruber, Georg Juckel, Vera Flasbeck, Martin Hautzinger, Andrea Pfennig, Silke Matura, Andreas Reif, Dominik Grotegerd, Udo Dannlowski, Tilo Kircher, Michael Bauer, Andreas Jansen
Department of Psychology, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
Int J Bipolar Disord. 2024 Sep 26;12(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s40345-024-00354-7.
The German multicenter research consortium BipoLife aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying bipolar disorders. It focuses in particular on people at high risk of developing the disorder and young patients in the early stages of the disease. Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data was collected in all participating centers. The collection of neuroimaging data in a longitudinal, multicenter study requires the implementation of a comprehensive quality assurance (QA) protocol. Here, we outline this protocol and illustrate its application within the BipoLife consortium.
The QA protocol consisted of (1) a training of participating research staff, (2) regular phantom measurements to evaluate the MR scanner performance and its temporal stability across the course of the study, and (3) the assessment of the quality of human MRI data by evaluating a variety of image metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, ghosting level). In this article, we will provide an overview on these QA procedures and show exemplarily the influence of its application on the results of standard neuroimaging analysis pipelines.
The QA protocol helped to characterize the various MR scanners, to record their performance over the course of the study and to detect possible malfunctions at an early stage. It also assessed the quality of the human MRI data systematically to characterize its influence on various analyses. Furthermore, by setting up and publishing this protocol, we define standards that must be considered when analyzing data from the BipoLife consortium. It further promotes a systematic evaluation of data quality and a definition of subject inclusion criteria. In the long term, it will help to increase the chance of achieving clinically relevant results.
德国多中心研究联盟BipoLife旨在研究双相情感障碍的潜在机制。它特别关注有患该疾病高风险的人群以及疾病早期阶段的年轻患者。所有参与中心都收集了功能和结构磁共振成像（MRI）数据。在纵向多中心研究中收集神经影像数据需要实施全面的质量保证（QA）方案。在此，我们概述该方案并说明其在BipoLife联盟中的应用。
QA方案包括：（1）对参与研究的工作人员进行培训；（2）定期进行体模测量，以评估磁共振扫描仪的性能及其在研究过程中的时间稳定性；（3）通过评估各种图像指标（如信噪比、鬼影水平）来评估人类MRI数据的质量。在本文中，我们将概述这些QA程序，并示例性地展示其应用对标准神经影像分析流程结果的影响。
QA方案有助于对各种磁共振扫描仪进行特性描述，记录其在研究过程中的性能，并在早期检测出可能的故障。它还系统地评估了人类MRI数据的质量，以表征其对各种分析的影响。此外，通过制定和发布该方案，我们定义了在分析来自BipoLife联盟的数据时必须考虑的标准。它进一步促进了对数据质量的系统评估以及对受试者纳入标准的定义。从长远来看，它将有助于增加获得临床相关结果的机会。
