Generic acquisition protocol for quantitative MRI of the spinal cord

Julien Cohen-Adad, Eva Alonso-Ortiz, Mihael Abramovic, Carina Arneitz, Nicole Atcheson, Laura Barlow, Robert L. Barry, Markus Barth, Marco Battiston, Christian Büchel, Matthew Budde, Virginie Callot, Anna J.E. Combes, Benjamin De Leener, Maxime Descoteaux, Paulo Loureiro de Sousa, Marek Dostál, Julien Doyon, Adam Dvorak, Falk EippertKarla R. Epperson, Kevin S. Epperson, Patrick Freund, Jürgen Finsterbusch, Alexandru Foias, Michela Fratini, Issei Fukunaga, Claudia A.M.Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Giancarlo Germani, Guillaume Gilbert, Federico Giove, Charley Gros, Francesco Grussu, Akifumi Hagiwara, Pierre Gilles Henry, Tomáš Horák, Masaaki Hori, James Joers, Kouhei Kamiya, Haleh Karbasforoushan, Miloš Keřkovský, Ali Khatibi, Joo Won Kim, Nawal Kinany, Hagen Kitzler, Shannon Kolind, Yazhuo Kong, Petr Kudlička, Paul Kuntke, Nyoman D. Kurniawan, Slawomir Kusmia, René Labounek, Maria Marcella Laganà, Cornelia Laule, Christine S. Law, Christophe Lenglet, Tobias Leutritz, Yaou Liu, Sara Llufriu, Sean Mackey, Eloy Martinez-Heras, Loan Mattera, Igor Nestrasil, Kristin P. O’Grady, Nico Papinutto, Daniel Papp, Deborah Pareto, Todd B. Parrish, Anna Pichiecchio, Ferran Prados, Àlex Rovira, Marc J. Ruitenberg, Rebecca S. Samson, Giovanni Savini, Maryam Seif, Alan C. Seifert, Alex K. Smith, Seth A. Smith, Zachary A. Smith, Elisabeth Solana, Yuichi Suzuki, George Tackley, Alexandra Tinnermann, Jan Valošek, Dimitri Van De Ville, Marios C. Yiannakas, Kenneth A. Weber, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Richard G. Wise, Patrik O. Wyss, Junqian Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Quantitative spinal cord (SC) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) presents many challenges, including a lack of standardized imaging protocols. Here we present a prospectively harmonized quantitative MRI protocol, which we refer to as the spine generic protocol, for users of 3T MRI systems from the three main manufacturers: GE, Philips and Siemens. The protocol provides guidance for assessing SC macrostructural and microstructural integrity: T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging for SC cross-sectional area computation, multi-echo gradient echo for gray matter cross-sectional area, and magnetization transfer and diffusion weighted imaging for assessing white matter microstructure. In a companion paper from the same authors, the spine generic protocol was used to acquire data across 42 centers in 260 healthy subjects. The key details of the spine generic protocol are also available in an open-access document that can be found at https://github.com/spine-generic/protocols. The protocol will serve as a starting point for researchers and clinicians implementing new SC imaging initiatives so that, in the future, inclusion of the SC in neuroimaging protocols will be more common. The protocol could be implemented by any trained MR technician or by a researcher/clinician familiar with MRI acquisition.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4611-4632
Number of pages22
JournalNature Protocols
Volume16
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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