Assessing optimisation of 3T MRI protocol across multi-site, multi-vendor settings for studying mild Traumatic Brain Injury:   mTBI Predict Consortium study

Pradeepa Ruwan Wanni Arachchige; Yidian Gao; Iman Idrees; Jessikah Fildes; Aliza Finch; Waheeda Hawa; Martin Craig; Matthew J. Brookes; Lisa J. Hill; Samuel J.E. Lucas; James L. Mitchell; Alexandra J. Sinclair; Jan Novak; Andrew P. Bagshaw; Martin Wilson; Davinia Fernandez-Espejo; Karen J. Mullinger

doi:10.52294/001c.157692

Assessing optimisation of 3T MRI protocol across multi-site, multi-vendor settings for studying mild Traumatic Brain Injury: mTBI Predict Consortium study

Pradeepa Ruwan Wanni Arachchige
, Yidian Gao
, Iman Idrees
, Jessikah Fildes
, Aliza Finch
, Waheeda Hawa
, Martin Craig
, Matthew J. Brookes
, Lisa J. Hill
, Samuel J.E. Lucas
, James L. Mitchell
, Alexandra J. Sinclair
, Jan Novak
, Andrew P. Bagshaw
, Martin Wilson
, Davinia Fernandez-Espejo
, Karen J. Mullinger

University of Nottingham
University of Birmingham
Aston University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Large multi-site, multi-vendor MRI studies offer opportunities to advance clinical practice and neuroscience research by increasing sample sizes, especially in clinical populations. However, variability between scanners or sites can affect the reproducibility of quantitative MRI metrics, which is vital for using MRI beyond visual inspection of structural images. This study aimed to assess the reproducibility of MRI metrics for the mild traumatic brain injury-Predict (mTBI-Predict) consortium, spanning Philips and Siemens scanners across three sites. We conducted a travelling head study (n=1), acquiring repeated measurements from a healthy participant across three sites. Evaluated metrics included cortical thickness and subcortical volume from T1-weighted images, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), temporal signal-to-noise ratio (tSNR) from echo planar imaging, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) from arterial spin labelling (ASL). Image quality metrics (point spread function and motion) were also assessed across all DWI, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) data. Standardised pipelines were used for preprocessing and analysis. Within-subject coefficients of variation (wCV%) and linear regressions assessed repeatability and consistency. Structural measures, including cortical thickness, subcortical volume, FA, and MD, demonstrated excellent reproducibility (wCV ≤5%, R² ≥0.85) within and between-sites. Minimal differences in participant motion were observed across sessions. However, as expected, tSNR and CBF showed greater variability than structural measures, due to their functional nature. Despite this, wCV% remained below 10% for all metrics, a threshold indicating very good agreement for biological measures. These findings align with previous work, demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining comparable MRI measurements across sites for studying brain structure and function. This study lays the groundwork for further evaluation of clinically relevant MRI biomarkers for mTBI.

Original language	English
Number of pages	22
Journal	Aperture Neuro
Volume	6
Early online date	27 Mar 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.52294/001c.157692
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 27 Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license's legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.

Data Access Statement

The imaging data used in this study are formatted according to the Brain Imaging Data Structure and stored on secure institutional servers. Although not publicly available at this time, the data will be made accessible via the Open-Neuro platform upon acceptance of the manuscript. The custom scripts used in the analysis are openly available on GitHub: https://github.com/MRIRW/mri-sequence-harmonisation.

Funding

The work was funded by the Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom, through the mTBI Predict Consortium. The study was performed with the support of the Birmingham Clinical Trials Un

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10.52294/001c.157692

157692-assessing-optimisation-of-3t-mri-protocol-across-multi-site-multi-vendor-settings-for-studying-mild-traumatic-brain-injury-mtbi-predict-consortium-s
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license's legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.
Final published version, 1.28 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Wanni Arachchige, P. R., Gao, Y., Idrees, I., Fildes, J., Finch, A., Hawa, W., Craig, M., Brookes, M. J., Hill, L. J., Lucas, S. J. E., Mitchell, J. L., Sinclair, A. J., Novak, J., Bagshaw, A. P., Wilson, M., Fernandez-Espejo, D., & Mullinger, K. J. (2026). Assessing optimisation of 3T MRI protocol across multi-site, multi-vendor settings for studying mild Traumatic Brain Injury: mTBI Predict Consortium study. Aperture Neuro, 6. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.52294/001c.157692

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abstract = "Large multi-site, multi-vendor MRI studies offer opportunities to advance clinical practice and neuroscience research by increasing sample sizes, especially in clinical populations. However, variability between scanners or sites can affect the reproducibility of quantitative MRI metrics, which is vital for using MRI beyond visual inspection of structural images. This study aimed to assess the reproducibility of MRI metrics for the mild traumatic brain injury-Predict (mTBI-Predict) consortium, spanning Philips and Siemens scanners across three sites. We conducted a travelling head study (n=1), acquiring repeated measurements from a healthy participant across three sites. Evaluated metrics included cortical thickness and subcortical volume from T1-weighted images, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), temporal signal-to-noise ratio (tSNR) from echo planar imaging, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) from arterial spin labelling (ASL). Image quality metrics (point spread function and motion) were also assessed across all DWI, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labelling (pCASL) data. Standardised pipelines were used for preprocessing and analysis. Within-subject coefficients of variation (wCV\%) and linear regressions assessed repeatability and consistency. Structural measures, including cortical thickness, subcortical volume, FA, and MD, demonstrated excellent reproducibility (wCV ≤5\%, R² ≥0.85) within and between-sites. Minimal differences in participant motion were observed across sessions. However, as expected, tSNR and CBF showed greater variability than structural measures, due to their functional nature. Despite this, wCV\% remained below 10\% for all metrics, a threshold indicating very good agreement for biological measures. These findings align with previous work, demonstrating the feasibility of obtaining comparable MRI measurements across sites for studying brain structure and function. This study lays the groundwork for further evaluation of clinically relevant MRI biomarkers for mTBI.",

author = "\{Wanni Arachchige\}, \{Pradeepa Ruwan\} and Yidian Gao and Iman Idrees and Jessikah Fildes and Aliza Finch and Waheeda Hawa and Martin Craig and Brookes, \{Matthew J.\} and Hill, \{Lisa J.\} and Lucas, \{Samuel J.E.\} and Mitchell, \{James L.\} and Sinclair, \{Alexandra J.\} and Jan Novak and Bagshaw, \{Andrew P.\} and Martin Wilson and Davinia Fernandez-Espejo and Mullinger, \{Karen J.\}",

note = "This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license's legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.",

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Wanni Arachchige, PR, Gao, Y, Idrees, I, Fildes, J, Finch, A, Hawa, W, Craig, M, Brookes, MJ, Hill, LJ, Lucas, SJE, Mitchell, JL, Sinclair, AJ, Novak, J, Bagshaw, AP, Wilson, M, Fernandez-Espejo, D & Mullinger, KJ 2026, 'Assessing optimisation of 3T MRI protocol across multi-site, multi-vendor settings for studying mild Traumatic Brain Injury: mTBI Predict Consortium study', Aperture Neuro, vol. 6. https://doi.org/10.52294/001c.157692

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AU - Idrees, Iman

AU - Fildes, Jessikah

AU - Finch, Aliza

AU - Hawa, Waheeda

AU - Craig, Martin

AU - Brookes, Matthew J.

AU - Hill, Lisa J.

AU - Lucas, Samuel J.E.

AU - Mitchell, James L.

AU - Sinclair, Alexandra J.

AU - Novak, Jan

AU - Bagshaw, Andrew P.

AU - Wilson, Martin

AU - Fernandez-Espejo, Davinia

AU - Mullinger, Karen J.

N1 - This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CCBY-4.0). View this license's legal deed at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 and legal code at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode for more information.

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