Adaptation of quality control pipeline for Skeletal Muscle 31P MR Spectroscopy at 3T and 7T

Analysis of dynamic phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (³¹P MRS) data is often hindered by variability in data quality. A quality control (QC) pipeline developed by Naëgel (2023) introduced six key parameters to ensure reliable ³¹P MRS results in large clinical datasets. This study tested the transferability of this QC scoring (QCS_REF) to two different research sites equipped with 3T and 7T MR systems and different ergometers. Twelve groups with the focus on frail and elderly subjects and patients with neurodegenerative diseases were included. The application of QCS_REF limits led to the improvement of the statistical power in some patient groups, but to the exclusion of substantial data for all our groups and experimental settings at both 3T and 7T. Only 28% of all recovery and exercise period data at 3T and 21% at 7T passed QCS_REF inclusion criteria. Therefore, two new sets of quality control criteria, QCS1 and QCS2, were proposed, reflecting achieved SNR of individual MR signalsand the patient phenotype included. We showed that the transferability of the QCS_REF did not depend on the magnetic field, the coil, or localization scheme. The new QCS did not significantly influence the mean recovery and exercise time constants of each group compared to QCS_REF. We verified that six proposed key parameters were adequate for an objective assessment of the quality of dynamic ³¹P MRS measurement at 3T as well as 7T. However, the patient group characteristics and experimental set-up significantly affect the ability to meet dynamic ³¹P MRS quality control thresholds, supporting the use of flexible QC criteria for robust data acquisition across diverse clinical populations.