Cross‐vendor harmonization of T₂‐relaxation‐under‐spin‐tagging (TRUST) MRI for the assessment of cerebral venous oxygenation

Purpose Cerebral venous oxygenation (Y v ) is an important physiological parameter and has potential clinical application in many brain diseases. T 2 ‐relaxation‐under‐spin‐tagging (TRUST) is a commonly used MRI method to measure Y v . Harmonization of this technique across MRI vendors is important for dissemination and multicenter studies of brain oxygenation and metabolism as a disease biomarker. Methods TRUST pulse sequence components and imaging parameters were carefully matched between two major MRI vendors, Philips and Siemens. Each subject ( N = 10) was scanned on both scanners within a 2.5‐h period. On each scanner, the subject was scanned in two sessions to assess intersession reproducibility. A hyperoxia challenge was also included in both sessions and on both scanners to evaluate the sensitivity of the technique to Y v changes. Measured Y v values, confidence interval of Y v estimates ( ), as well as intrasession and intersession coefficient of variation (CoV) of Y v , were compared between the two scanners. Results Y v measured on the two vendors were highly compatible and strongly correlated ( R 2 = 0.957). Y v changes associated with hyperoxia challenge were significant on both scanners ( P < 0.001) and were also correlated across scanners ( P = 0.007). Intrasession and intersession CoV of measured Y v were less than 3% and showed no difference between scanners. were less than 1% on both scanners and showed no difference between scanners when echo times were matched on the two scanners. Conclusion This work suggests that harmonized TRUST MRI can yield highly compatible Y v measurements across different vendors. Magn Reson Med 80:1125–1131, 2018.