MR-BIAS

MR-BIAS automates quantification of T1 and T2 relaxation times from the ISMRM/NIST system phantom to provide reference measurements for quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) biomarkers.

Key Features:

• Automation: Eliminates manual steps relative to Phantom Viewer (PV), reducing inter-observer variability (IOV) and increasing reproducibility.
• Efficiency: Performs analyses 9.7 times faster than PV with a mean analysis duration of 0.8 minutes versus PV's 7.6 minutes.
• Accuracy and Consistency: Achieves lower coefficient of variation (CV) in percent bias (%bias) for T1^{VIR} and T2^{MSE}, with mean CVs of 0.03% and 0.05% compared to PV's 1.28% and 4.55%, respectively.
• Comparative Performance: Shows no statistically significant difference in overall bias or %bias for most regions of interest (ROIs) across relaxation models T1^{VIR}, T1^{VFA}, and T2^{MSE} when compared to custom scripts from previous studies.

Scientific Applications:

• qMRI standardization: Provides reference measurements from the ISMRM/NIST system phantom to support standardization of qMRI protocols across studies and institutions.
• Clinical translation: Supplies reproducible phantom-derived biomarkers to aid translation of qMRI methods into clinical practice for disease detection, staging, and treatment monitoring.

Methodology:

Validated by comparing IOV and time efficiency against Phantom Viewer using six volunteers and three phantom datasets, and by benchmarking accuracy against a published custom script on twelve phantom datasets with comparisons of overall bias and %bias for T1^{VIR}, T1^{VFA}, and T2^{MSE}.