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Probing the Brain in Autism Using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Probing the Brain in Autism Using fMRI and Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Published on: September 12, 2011

Harmonizing multisite neonatal diffusion-weighted brain MRI data for developmental neuroscience.

Alexandra F Bonthrone¹, Manuel Blesa Cábez², A David Edwards¹

¹Centre for the Developing Brain, Research Department of Early Life Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, UK.

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

|December 11, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

ComBat harmonization effectively removed site effects in neonatal brain diffusion MRI data. This method enables larger sample sizes for developmental neuroscience research, aiding biomarker discovery and understanding brain development.

Keywords:

ComBat Data harmonization Diffusion tensor imaging Multisite Neonatal White Matter

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Last Updated: May 13, 2026

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Published on: July 28, 2013

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Medical Imaging
Biostatistics

Background:

Neonatal diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) is vital for developmental neuroscience.
Multisite studies face challenges with site-specific data variations.
Harmonization techniques are needed to integrate data from different scanners and sites.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate ComBat, an empirical Bayes tool, for harmonizing white matter dMRI measures in neonates.
To assess the impact of ComBat on removing site effects in infant brain imaging data.
To determine if ComBat improves data consistency for large-scale developmental neuroscience studies.

Main Methods:

Applied ComBat harmonization to skeletonized fractional anisotropy (FA), mean, axial, and radial diffusivity (MD, AD, RD) maps.
Compared voxel-wise metrics, skeleton means, and histogram widths before and after harmonization.
Analyzed variance related to gestational age and scan site.

Main Results:

ComBat successfully removed all voxel-wise differences in MD maps and metric means/histogram widths.
Minor voxel-wise differences (<1.5%) persisted in FA, AD, and RD after harmonization.
Harmonized data showed smaller standardized regression coefficients compared to single-site data.

Conclusions:

ComBat is effective in harmonizing neonatal dMRI data, significantly reducing site effects.
This harmonization facilitates larger, multi-site cohorts for developmental neuroscience research.
ComBat offers potential for enhanced biomarker discovery, understanding brain development, and evaluating therapies.