Cross-Vendor Test-Retest Validation of Diffusion Tensor Image Analysis along the Perivascular Space (DTI-ALPS) for Evaluating Glymphatic System Function

Xiaodan Liu; Giuseppe Barisano; Xingfeng Shao; Kay Jann; John M Ringman; Hanzhang Lu; Konstantinos Arfanakis; Arvind Caprihan; Charles DeCarli; Brian T Gold; Pauline Maillard; Claudia L Satizabal; Elyas Fadaee; Mohamad Habes; Lara Stables; Herpreet Singh; Bruce Fischl; Andre van der Kouwe; Kristin Schwab; Karl G Helmer; Steven M Greenberg; Danny J J Wang; MarkVCID Consortium

doi:10.14336/AD.2023.0321-2

Cross-Vendor Test-Retest Validation of Diffusion Tensor Image Analysis along the Perivascular Space (DTI-ALPS) for Evaluating Glymphatic System Function

Aging Dis. 2023 May 26. doi: 10.14336/AD.2023.0321-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiaodan Liu^{1

2

3}, Giuseppe Barisano⁴, Xingfeng Shao¹, Kay Jann¹, John M Ringman⁵, Hanzhang Lu⁶, Konstantinos Arfanakis^{7

8

9}, Arvind Caprihan¹⁰, Charles DeCarli¹¹, Brian T Gold¹², Pauline Maillard¹¹, Claudia L Satizabal¹³, Elyas Fadaee¹⁴, Mohamad Habes¹⁴, Lara Stables¹⁵, Herpreet Singh¹⁶, Bruce Fischl^{17

18

19}, Andre van der Kouwe^{17

18}, Kristin Schwab¹⁶, Karl G Helmer^{17

18}, Steven M Greenberg¹⁶, Danny J J Wang¹; MarkVCID Consortium

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of FMRI Technology (LOFT), Mark & Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
² Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
³ Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
⁷ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁸ Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁹ Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
¹⁰ The Mind Research Network, Albuquerque, NM, USA.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA.
¹² Department of Neuroscience, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
¹³ Population Health Sciences and Glenn Biggs Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
¹⁴ Neuroimage Analytics Laboratory and Biggs Institute Neuroimaging Core, Glenn Biggs Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁸ Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
¹⁹ Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Computer Science and AI Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

PMID: 37307817
DOI: 10.14336/AD.2023.0321-2

Abstract

The diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) method was proposed to evaluate glymphatic system (GS) function. However, few studies have validated its reliability and reproducibility. Fifty participants' DTI data from the MarkVCID consortium were included in this study. Two pipelines by using DSI studio and FSL software were developed for data processing and ALPS index calculation. The ALPS index was obtained by the average of bilateral ALPS index and was used for testing the cross-vendor, inter-rater and test-retest reliability by using R studio software. The ALPS index demonstrated favorable inter-scanner reproducibility (ICC=0.77 to 0.95, P < 0.001), inter-rater reliability (ICC=0.96 to 1, P< 0.001) and test-retest repeatability (ICC=0.89 to 0.95, P< 0.001), offering a potential biomarker for in vivo evaluation of GS function.

Grants and funding

P30 AG072946/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States