TY  - JOUR
AU  - Maximov, Ivan I.
AU  - Thönneßen, Heike
AU  - Konrad, Kerstin
AU  - Amort, Laura
AU  - Neuner, Irene
AU  - Shah, N. J.
TI  - Statistical Instability of TBSS Analysis Based on DTI Fitting Algorithm
JO  - Journal of neuroimaging
VL  - 25
IS  - 6
SN  - 1051-2284
CY  - Berlin [u.a.]
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
M1  - FZJ-2015-01878
SP  - 883 - 891
PY  - 2015
AB  - Voxel-based DTI analysis is an important approach in the comparison of subject groups by detecting and localizing gray and white matter changes in the brain. One of the principal problems for intersubject comparison is the absence of a “gold standard” processing pipeline. As a result, contradictory results may be obtained from identical data using different data processing pipelines, for example, in the data normalization or smoothing procedures. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) shows potential to overcome this problem by automatic detection of white matter changes and decreasing variation in the performed analysis. However, skeleton projection approaches, such as TBSS, critically depend on the accuracy of the diffusion scalar metric estimations. In this work, we demonstrate that the agreement and reliability of TBSS results depend on the applied DTI data processing algorithm. Statistical tests have been performed using two in vivo measured datasets and compared with different implementations of the least squares algorithm. As a result, we recommend repeating TBSS analysis using different fitting algorithms, in particular, using on iteratively-assessed robust estimators, as accurate and more reliable approach in voxel-based analysis, particularly, for TBSS. Repeating TBSS analysis allows one to detect and localize suspicious regions in white matter which were estimated as the regions with significant difference. Finally, we did not find a favorite fitting algorithm (or class of them) which can be marked as more reliable for group comparison.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000363334100005
C6  - pmid:25682721
DO  - DOI:10.1111/jon.12215
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/188523
ER  -