大规模视觉质检发现:扩散MRI分析需全链路质量控制。
Large-Scale Deployment and Analytical Implications of Structured Quality Control in Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

- 构建系统性质检框架,覆盖9个数据集1.8万例扫描
- 发现通过视觉质检才能识别上游流程失败的隐蔽问题
- 不同算法需差异化质检粒度,确保结果可解释
目的:扩散磁共振成像(dMRI)提供多种定量指标和衍生数据类型,用于评估白质微观与宏观结构。随着使用dMRI的大规模研究增多,下游输出所需的质量控制(QC)数量持续增长。以往研究表明,仅靠聚合指标难以发现某些故障模式,而通过结构化视觉检查可有效识别。本文旨在更深入理解常见故障模式及有效处理流程输出的特征,以保障定量分析结果的有效性与可解释性。方法:部署结构化质量控制框架,对跨九个数据集的18,328例dMRI扫描进行评估,视觉检查七种代表性的常规dMRI处理流程输出。结果:即使下游输出通过视觉质检,仍可能依赖于上游失败的步骤;此类失败仅能通过系统性检查全流程层级结构来发现。此外,适当的质检粒度具有算法特异性,因各算法输出的空间结构决定故障是否应选择性排除或全局剔除。结论:本研究证明了大规模、结构化dMRI流程质量控制的可行性及其分析价值。结果强调必须在整个处理链路中实施系统性质量控制,以确保定量发现的有效性与可解释性。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Purpose: Diffusion MRI (dMRI) provides a diverse set of quantitative measures and derived datatypes to assess white matter microstructure and macrostructure. Coupled with the increasing size of imaging studies using dMRI, the number of downstream outputs requiring quality control (QC) will continue to grow. Previous work has shown that failure modes which are often not evident from aggregate metrics or summary statistics can be identified through structured visual inspection. This work aims to better understand common failure modes and the expected characteristics of valid dMRI processing outputs to ensure the validity and interpretability of quantitative findings. Approach: We deployed a structured QC framework to assess 18,328 dMRI scans across nine datasets, visually evaluating the outputs of seven processing pipelines representative of conventional dMRI analyses. Results: Downstream outputs that pass visual QC may still rely on failed upstream dependencies; such failures may only be visually detectable through systematic inspection of the full pipeline hierarchy. Additionally, appropriate QC granularity is algorithm-specific, as the spatial structure of each algorithm's outputs determines whether failures warrant selective or global exclusion. Conclusion: This work demonstrates the feasibility and analytical value of large-scale, structured QC for dMRI processing pipelines. Our results highlight the need for systematic QC spanning the full processing hierarchy to ensure the validity and interpretability of quantitative findings.
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