Background The inter-scanner reproducibility of brain volumetry is important in multi-site neuroimaging studies, where the reliability of automated brain segmentation (ABS) tools plays an important role. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of ABS tools on the consistency and reproducibility of the quantified brain volumetry from different scanners. Methods We included fifteen healthy volunteers who were scanned with 3D isotropic brain T1-weighted sequence on three different 3.0 Tesla MRI scanners (GE, Siemens and Philips). For each individual, the time span between image acquisitions on different scanners was limited to 1 h. All the T1-weighted images were processed with FreeSurfer v6.0, FSL v5.0 and AccuBrain ® with default settings to obtain volumetry of brain tissues (e.g. gray matter) and substructures (e.g. basal ganglia structures) if available. Coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated to test inter-scanner variability in brain volumetry of various structures as quantified by these ABS tools. Results The mean inter-scanner CV values per brain structure among three MRI scanners ranged from 6.946 to 12.29% (mean, 9.577%) for FreeSurfer, 7.245 to 20.98% (mean, 12.60%) for FSL and 1.348 to 8.800% (mean value, 3.546%) for AccuBrain ® . In addition, AccuBrain ® and FreeSurfer achieved the lowest mean values of region-specific CV between GE and Siemens scanners (from 0.818 to 5.958% for AccuBrain ® , and from 0.903 to 7.977% for FreeSurfer), while FSL-FIRST had the lowest mean values of region-specific CV between GE and Philips scanners (from 2.603 to 16.310%). AccuBrain ® also had the lowest mean values of region-specific CV between Siemens and Philips scanners (from 1.138 to 6.615%). Conclusion There is a large discrepancy in the inter-scanner reproducibility of brain volumetry when using different processing software. Image acquisition protocols and selection of ABS tool for brain volumetry quantification have impact on the robustness of results in multi-site studies.

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脑容量测量的扫描仪间可重复性：自动脑分割软件的影响

背景 脑容量测量的扫描器间可重复性在多位点神经影像研究中很重要，其中自动脑分割 (ABS) 工具的可靠性起着重要作用。本研究旨在评估 ABS 工具对来自不同扫描仪的量化大脑体积的一致性和可重复性的影响。方法 我们纳入了 15 名健康志愿者，他们在三台不同的 3.0 特斯拉 MRI 扫描仪（GE、西门子和飞利浦）上使用 3D 各向同性脑 T1 加权序列进行扫描。对于每个人，不同扫描仪上图像采集之间的时间跨度限制为 1 小时。所有 T1 加权图像均使用 FreeSurfer v6.0、FSL v5.0 和 AccuBrain ® 以默认设置处理以获得脑组织（例如灰质）和子结构（例如 基底神经节结构）（如果有）。计算变异系数 (CV) 以测试通过这些 ABS 工具量化的各种结构的大脑体积的扫描器间变异性。结果 三个 MRI 扫描仪中每个大脑结构的平均扫描仪间 CV 值范围为 FreeSurfer 的 6.946 至 12.29%（平均值，9.577%），FSL 的 7.245 至 20.98%（平均值，12.60%）和 1.348 至 8.800%（平均值） , 3.546%) 为 AccuBrain ® 。此外，AccuBrain ® 和 FreeSurfer 实现了 GE 和 Siemens 扫描仪之间区域特定 CV 的最低平均值（AccuBrain ® 为 0.818 至 5.958%，FreeSurfer 为 0.903 至 7.977%），而 FSL-FIRST 的平均值最低GE 和飞利浦扫描仪之间特定于区域的 CV 值（从 2.603 到 16.310%）。AccuBrain ® 在西门子和飞利浦扫描仪之间的特定区域 CV 平均值也最低（从 1.138% 到 6.615%）。结论 使用不同的处理软件时，脑容量测量的扫描器间可重复性存在很大差异。用于大脑体积量化的图像采集协议和 ABS 工具的选择对多站点研究结果的稳健性有影响。