Evaluation of harmonization strategies for analyzing multi-center diffusion MRI data of rhabdomyosarcoma
Motivation: Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare pediatric tumor without known biomarkers for early therapy adjustment. Their investigation requires multi-center patient cohorts and, consequently, data harmonization. Goal(s): Comparison of two harmonization approaches ("ComBat", "generalized linear models (GLM) regression") for evaluating potential differences in performance and outcome. Approach: Tumorous and healthy tissues were segmented. Healthy and tumorous ADC features were harmonized with ComBat, the regression based GLM - on healthy features and applied to tumors. Tumor histology, body area, center information were provided as covariates. Results: In head-and-neck tumors, a stronger correlation between ADC change and survival was observed after harmonization, but not in other tumor locations. Impact: The results suggest that harmonization should be applied to separate groups based on tumor location, thus, allowing the algorithm to focus on inter-center variability. The need for more extensive delineations of healthy tissues is suggested for more robust results.
Authors
- Lucia Quaglietta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4354-8979)
- Marta Fiocco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5588-0277)
- Rana Dandis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4002-1386)
- Johannes H. M. Merks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7659-1028)
- Soledad Gallego (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4712-9624)
- Reineke A. Schoot (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8838-981X)
- Amine Bouhamama (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0655-6678)
- Ana Coma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8290-9717)
- Valérie Charon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1762-9967)
- Rick Robert van Rijn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8876-6515)
- Willemijn M. Klein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4309-533X)
- Alexander Leemans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9306-6126)
- Alberto De Luca (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2553-7299)
- Julie Leseur
- Madeleine Adams (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5277-5487)
- Cyrano Chatziantoniou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8671-2580)
- Erika Pace (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5057-0154)
- Simone A. J. ter Horst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4849-5826)
- Daniel H. Orbach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2520-139X)
- Giulia Fichera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2977-5304)
- Andrey Zhylka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1369-1088)
- Meriel Jenney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2612-4621)
- Giulia De Donno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7765-4868)
- Véronique Minard‐Colin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0296-5207)
- Kieran McHugh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6891-5213)
- Katia Perruccio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0431-3197)
- Ludwig Müller
- Gianni Bisogno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4462-5523)
- Carlo Morosi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4940-2185)
- Pablo Caro‐Domínguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3540-6580)
- Henry Mandeville (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6820-8578)
- Christine Devalck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8319-8312)
- Roelof van Ewijk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0339-6031)
- Heidi Glosli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1153-4131)
- Sara Sirvent
- Andrea C. Ferrari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4724-0517)
- Salma Moalla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1106-4750)
- Marleen Renard
- Patrizia Bertolini
- Pier Di Paolo
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings on CD-ROM - International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Scientific Meeting and Exhibition/Proceedings of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Scientific Meeting and Exhibition
- Published
- 2025-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.58530/2025/5293
- Primary Topic
- Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00