Tobias Heye1,
Elmar M. Merkle2, Caecilia S. Reiner1, Matthew S.
Davenport3, Jeff J. Horvath1, Sebastian Feuerlein4,
Steven R. Breault1, Peter Gall5, Mustafa R. Bashir1,
Brian M. Dale6, Attila Kiraly7, Daniel T. Boll1
1Department
of Radiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States; 2Klinik
fr Radiologie und Nuklearmedizin, Universittsspital Basel, Basel, Kanton
Basel, Switzerland; 3Department of Radiology, University of
Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI, United States; 4Department
of Radiology and Medical Imaging, University of Virginia Health System,
Charlottesville, VA, United States; 5Imaging & Therapy
Division, Healthcare Sector, Siemens AG, Erlangen, -, Germany; 6MR
R&D Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare, Morrisville, NC, United States; 7Corporate
Research and Technology, Siemens Corporation, Princeton, NJ, United States
Inter-observer variability is a considerable factor of measurement variation in any quantitative imaging approach in particular multi-center studies. Many of the contributors to the overall variation in DCE-MRI results are technical or mathematical in nature and their influence is systematic, thus allowing for estimation, correction and optimization of the error. However, unlike these more predictable sources, the observer imparts a more variable contribution to the overall error in the entire process of DCE-MRI. We could shown that a guided measurement method can reduce inter-observer variability significantly (relative reduction by 42.5%) compared to manual ROI placement (16.4% versus 28.5%, respectively).
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