Spurious group differences due to head motion in a diffusion MRI study

Yendiki, Anastasia; Koldewyn, Kami; Kakunoori, Sita; Kanwisher, Nancy; Fischl, Bruce

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.11.027

Cited by 477 publications

(527 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) volumes were created using the DTIFIT command from FSL (Smith et al 2004) utilising ordinary least squares tensor fitting. Rotational and translational measures of head motion were computed and no participant exceeded 2mm in either measure, nor were there statistically significant differences between groups on these measures (Yendiki et al 2014). Individual structural volumes, diffusion volumes, and template volumes were co-registered.…”

Section: Mri Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

An MRI study of white matter tract integrity in regular cannabis users: effects of cannabis use and age

et al. 2016

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Rationale Conflicting evidence exists on the effects of cannabis use on brain white matter integrity. The extant literature has exclusively focused on younger cannabis users, with no studies sampling older cannabis users. Objectives We recruited a sample with a broad age range to examine the integrity of major white matter tracts in association with cannabis use parameters and neurodevelopmental stage. Methods Regular cannabis users (n = 56) and non-users (n = 20) with a mean age of 32 (range 18-55 years) underwent structural and diffusion MRI scans. White matter was examined using voxel-based statistics and via probabilistic tract reconstruction. The integrity of tracts was assessed using average fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity. Diffusion measures were compared between users and non-users and as group-by-age interactions. Correlations between diffusion measures and age of onset, duration, frequency and dose of current cannabis use were examined. Results Cannabis users overall had lower fractional anisotropy than healthy non-users in the forceps minor tract only (p = .015, partial eta = 0.07), with no voxel-wise differences observed. Younger users showed predominantly reduced axial diffusivity, whereas older users had higher radial diffusivity in widespread tracts. Higher axial diffusivity was associated with duration of cannabis use in the cingulum angular bundle (beta = 5.00 x 10−5, p = .003). Isolated higher AD in older cannabis users was also observed. Conclusions The findings suggest that exogenous cannabinoids alter normal brain maturation, with differing effects at various neurodevelopmental stages of life. These age-related differences are posited to account for the disparate results described in the literature.

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Section: Mri Data Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

An MRI study of white matter tract integrity in regular cannabis users: effects of cannabis use and age

et al. 2016

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“…Indeed, to our knowledge, only two studies (9,10) report quantitative analyses of the amount of motion in their DWI data. Group differences in head motion could be a serious confounding factor, given that head motion is likely to be greater in children with autism, and group differences in head motion can lead artifactually to just the effects most often reported: reduced FA in white matter tracts in ASD (11).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…To address these concerns, we scanned a relatively large sample of children with and without ASD, and evaluated data quality from each participant by visual inspection of the data and quantification of head motion (11). We then excluded scans that did not reach our data quality criterion, and matched the remaining participants across groups for data quality.…”

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confidence: 99%

Differences in the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus but no general disruption of white matter tracts in children with autism spectrum disorder

Koldewyn

Yendiki

Weigelt

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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One of the most widely cited features of the neural phenotype of autism is reduced "integrity" of long-range white matter tracts, a claim based primarily on diffusion imaging studies. However, many prior studies have small sample sizes and/or fail to address differences in data quality between those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical participants, and there is little consensus on which tracts are affected. To overcome these problems, we scanned a large sample of children with autism (n = 52) and typically developing children (n = 73). Data quality was variable, and worse in the ASD group, with some scans unusable because of head motion artifacts. When we follow standard data analysis practices (i.e., without matching head motion between groups), we replicate the finding of lower fractional anisotropy (FA) in multiple white matter tracts. However, when we carefully match data quality between groups, all these effects disappear except in one tract, the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). Additional analyses showed the expected developmental increases in the FA of fiber tracts within ASD and typical groups individually, demonstrating that we had sufficient statistical power to detect known group differences. Our data challenge the widely claimed general disruption of white matter tracts in autism, instead implicating only one tract, the right ILF, in the ASD phenotype.diffusion-weighted imaging | connectivity W hat is the key difference in the brains of individuals with autism that accounts for the distinctive cognitive profile of this disorder? One of the most widely claimed brain signatures of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), reported in dozens of papers that used diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), is reduced integrity of long-range fiber tracts (1). This finding has been taken as evidence that autism is fundamentally a "disconnection" syndrome, in which the core cognitive deficits result from reduced integration of information at the neural and cognitive levels (2-5). For example, it has been argued that the characteristic deficits in social cognition and language arise because these functions require rapid integration of information across spatially distant brain areas (3, 6, 7), which would likely be affected if major white matter tracts are compromised.Evidence for a general reduction in the "integrity"* of white matter in autism has come primarily from diffusion imaging studies that report reduced directionality of the diffusion of water molecules, or fractional anisotropy (FA), and increased speed of diffusion, or mean diffusivity (MD) of many major fiber bundles. However, the literature reveals little actual agreement on the existence and direction of group differences in diffusion parameters (reviewed in ref. 1). White-matter differences have been reported in various brain regions in positive and negative directions. Possible reasons for these inconsistent findings include small sample sizes [mean of ∼20 in each group, with 40% of studies scanning 15 or fewer participants with ASD (1)...

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“…Further, it has been shown 79 that motion changes the information content of the images in the direction we would typically expect in an atrophy study -more motion induces an apparent reduction in gray matter that is difficult to distinguish from true atrophy. For diffusion MRI-derived microstructure estimates, motion can also induce spurious differences between groups, even in cases of comparing groups with control subjects only, when no differences are expected 81 . These phenomena pose special challenges for the collection, analysis and interpretation of developmental neuroimaging data given that (i) motion is nonrandomly distributed with respect to age (children>adults), sex (male>female), and clinical status 82 , and (ii) motion-induced biases are prominent in brain regions (e.g.…”

Section: Subject Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This of course can be inefficient as it requires discarding one's best data at times and can rule out certain designs. Estimates of in-scanner motion could potentially also be used as regressors in statistical analysis in an attempt to "control" for motion effects 81 .…”

Section: Subject Motionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Studying neuroanatomy using MRI

et al. 2017

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The study of neuroanatomy using imaging enables key insights into how our brains function, are shaped by genes and environment, and change with development, aging, and disease. Developments in MRI acquisition, image processing, and data modelling have been key to these advances. However, MRI provides an indirect measurement of the biological signals we aim to investigate. Thus, artifacts and key questions of correct interpretation can confound the readouts provided by anatomical MRI. In this review we provide an overview of the methods for measuring macro-and mesoscopic structure and inferring microstructural properties; we also describe key artefacts and confounds that can lead to incorrect conclusions. Ultimately, we believe that, though methods need to improve and caution is required in its interpretation, structural MRI continues to have great promise in furthering our understanding of how the brain works.

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Spurious group differences due to head motion in a diffusion MRI study

Cited by 477 publications

References 49 publications

An MRI study of white matter tract integrity in regular cannabis users: effects of cannabis use and age

An MRI study of white matter tract integrity in regular cannabis users: effects of cannabis use and age

Differences in the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus but no general disruption of white matter tracts in children with autism spectrum disorder

Studying neuroanatomy using MRI

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