Comparison of manual and automatic section positioning of brain MR images.

The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board and was in full compliance with HIPAA guidelines. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. The purpose of this study was to prospectively compare intra- and intersubject variability of manual versus automatic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging section prescription. In two examinations, T2-weighted series were acquired with both methods. All intrasubject and three of six intersubject section prescription variances were significantly higher for manual prescription (P < .01). Root mean square errors confirmed better coregistration of the automated approach (P < .001). Automatic section prescription leads to improved reproducibility of imaging orientations for intra- and intersubject series in clinical practice.

[1]  A. Thompson,et al.  Magnetic resonance imaging in monitoring the treatment of multiple sclerosis: concerted action guidelines. , 1991, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[2]  Frederik Barkhof,et al.  Magnetic resonance image registration in multiple sclerosis: Comparison with repositioning error and observer‐based variability , 2002, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[3]  G. Comi,et al.  Resolution‐dependent estimates of lesion volumes in magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brain in multiple sclerosis , 1995, Annals of neurology.

[4]  G. Barker,et al.  The effect of section thickness on MR lesion detection and quantification in multiple sclerosis. , 1998, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[5]  Armando Manduca,et al.  Methodological considerations for measuring rates of brain atrophy , 2003, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[6]  M Filippi,et al.  The effect of imprecise repositioning on lesion volume measurements in patients with multiple sclerosis , 1997, Neurology.

[7]  Stephen M. Smith,et al.  A global optimisation method for robust affine registration of brain images , 2001, Medical Image Anal..

[8]  James H Thrall,et al.  Biomarkers in imaging: realizing radiology's future. , 2003, Radiology.

[9]  M Rovaris,et al.  Intraobserver and interobserver variability in measuring changes in lesion volume on serial brain MR images in multiple sclerosis. , 1998, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[10]  Armando Manduca,et al.  Interscan registration using navigator echoes , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[11]  D. Miller,et al.  Lesion volume measurement in multiple sclerosis: How important is accurate repositioning? , 1996, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[12]  L. Clarke,et al.  MRI measurement of brain tumor response: comparison of visual metric and automatic segmentation. , 1998, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[13]  S. Medendorp,et al.  Magnetic resonance imaging lesion enlargement in multiple sclerosis. Disease-related activity, chance occurrence, or measurement artifact? , 1992, Archives of neurology.

[14]  J H Simon,et al.  Computerized method of lesion volume quantitation in multiple sclerosis: error of serial studies. , 1997, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[15]  Anders M. Dale,et al.  On-line automatic slice positioning for brain MR imaging , 2005, NeuroImage.

[16]  Automatic scan prescription for brain MRI , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[17]  J E Husband,et al.  Evaluation of the response to treatment of solid tumours – a consensus statement of the International Cancer Imaging Society , 2004, British Journal of Cancer.

[18]  M. Horsfield,et al.  Quantitative assessment of MRI lesion load in monitoring the evolution of multiple sclerosis. , 1995, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[19]  Johannes Bernarding,et al.  Prospective registration of human head magnetic resonance images for reproducible slice positioning using localizer images , 2004, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[20]  G. Barker,et al.  Precision and reliability for measurement of change in MRI lesion volume in multiple sclerosis: a comparison of two computer assisted techniques , 1998, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry.

[21]  L P Panych,et al.  A simple noninvasive stereotactic device for routine MR head examinations. , 1996, Journal of computer assisted tomography.

[22]  Marco Rovaris,et al.  The effect of repositioning on brain MRI lesion load assessment in multiple sclerosis: reliability of subjective quality criteria , 1998, Journal of Neurology.

[23]  E Plante,et al.  Sources of error in the quantitative analysis of MRI scans. , 1991, Magnetic resonance imaging.