Open source code for the generation of digital reference objects for dynamic contrast- enhanced MRI analysis software validation

Objectives: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR images can be analyzed through the application of a wide range of kinetic models. This process is prone to variability and a lack of standardization that can affect the measured metrics. There is a need for customized digital reference objects (DROs) for the validation of DCE- MRI software packages that undertake kinetic model analysis. DROs are currently available only for a small subset of the kinetic models commonly applied to DCE- MRI data. This work aimed to address this gap. Methods: Code was written in the MATLAB program-ming environment to generate customizable DROs. This modular code allows the insertion of a plug- in to describe the kinetic model to be tested. We input our generated DROs into three commercial and open-source analysis packages and assessed the agreement of kinetic model parameter values output with the 'ground-truth' values used in the DRO generation.Results: For the five kinetic models tested, the concord-ance correlation coefficient values were >98%, indicating excellent agreement of the results with 'ground-truth'.Conclusions: Testing our DROs on three independent software packages produced concordant results, strongly suggesting our DRO generation code is correct. This implies that our DROs can be used to validate other third party software for the kinetic model analysis of DCE-MRI data.Advances in knowledge This work extends published work of others to allow customized generation of test objects for any applied kinetic model , allows the incorporation of B1 mapping into the DRO for applica-tion at field

Automated summary

Customized digital reference objects (DROs) were generated and used to validate the accuracy of kinetic model analysis software packages for dynamic contrast-enhanced MR images. The generated DROs were input into three different software packages and compared with the 'ground-truth' values, showing excellent agreement. This suggests that the DRO generation code can be used to validate other third party software for DCE-MRI data analysis.