Multicenter Assessment of Combined Brain and Cervical Spinal cord 3T MP2RAGE T1 Measurements for Reliable Tissue...

Recent developments in quantitative T1 have enabled simultaneous scanning of both the brain and the cervical spinal cord (cSC) using the magnetization-prepared two rapid acquisition gradient echoes (MP2RAGE) sequence. However, the multicentre variability of such an approach has not yet been assessed. In this paper, we aim to evaluate multicentre variability (inter-scanner, between-session, between-participant) of T1 MP2RAGE measurements in the brain and cSC. A total of 52 MP2RAGE scans were acquired at two centres equipped with Siemens 3T MRI systems using an optimized MP2RAGE sequence. A subset of participants underwent scanning at both centres to evaluate inter-site variability. Between-session and inter-participant variability were assessed both globally and within specific regions, including brain white matter, cortical gray matter, deep gray matter, and cervical spinal cord vertebral levels using a linear mixed effect model. Mean intra-site/inter-site/between-participant coefficients of variation (COV) were 0.4/0.9/2.3% for the brain ROIs and 2.0/2.4/1.7% for the cSC. Our findings validate the consistency and reliability of the MP2RAGE brain and cervical spinal cord simultaneous acquisition in a multicentre setting. This approach has the potential to significantly impact the study of central nervous system pathologies, such as multiple sclerosis, by enabling fast, accurate, and reproducible quantitative imaging collection across multiple centres.