Instrumental validation of free water, peak‐width of skeletonized mean diffusivity, and white matter hyperintensities: MarkVCID neuroimaging kits
Pauline Maillard, Hanzhang Lu, Konstantinos Arfanakis, Brian T. Gold, Christopher E. Bauer, Valentinos Zachariou, Lara Stables, Danny J.J. Wang, Kay Jann, Sudha Seshadri, Marco Duering, Laura J. Hillmer, Gary A. Rosenberg, Haykel Snoussi, Farshid Sepehrband, Mohamad Habes, Baljeet Singh, Joel H. Kramer, Roderick A. Corriveau, Herpreet Singh, Kristin Schwab, Karl G. Helmer, Steven M. Greenberg, Arvind Caprihan, Charles DeCarli, Claudia L. Satizábal
Abstract
Abstract Introduction To describe the protocol and findings of the instrumental validation of three imaging‐based biomarker kits selected by the MarkVCID consortium: free water (FW) and peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD), both derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume derived from fluid attenuation inversion recovery and T1‐weighted imaging. Methods The instrumental validation of imaging‐based biomarker kits included inter‐rater reliability among participating sites, test–retest repeatability, and inter‐scanner reproducibility across three types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners using intra‐class correlation coefficients (ICC). Results The three biomarkers demonstrated excellent inter‐rater reliability (ICC >0.94, P ‐values < .001), very high agreement between test and retest sessions (ICC >0.98, P ‐values < .001), and were extremely consistent across the three scanners (ICC >0.98, P ‐values < .001). Discussion The three biomarker kits demonstrated very high inter‐rater reliability, test–retest repeatability, and inter‐scanner reproducibility, offering robust biomarkers suitable for future multi‐site observational studies and clinical trials in the context of vascular cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID).