Solving the pervasive problem of protocol non-compliance in MR imaging using an open-source tool mrQA

Acquiring MR imaging data by multi-site consortia requires careful monitoring of MR physics protocols. Conventionally, protocol compliance has been an ad-hoc and manual process that is error-prone. Hence, it is often overlooked for the lack of realization that parameters are routinely improvised locally at different sites. Such variation and inconsistencies across acquisition protocols can reduce SNR, & statistical power and, in the worst case, may invalidate the results altogether. We present an open-source tool, called mrQA, to assess protocol compliance and demonstrate the lack of it by analyzing over 20 large open datasets.