RELIABILITY OF CEREBRAL MEASURES IN REPEATED EXAMINATIONS WITH MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

This study examined the reliability of quantitative measures of cerebr al magnetic resonance images (MRI) in repeated scans. Ten subjects wer e scanned twice, at 2- to 4-week intervals. Volumetric data from 14 re gions of the cerebrum, the caudate nucleus, and the lateral ventricles and area measures of the corpus callosum were acquired. Intrarater an d scan-rescan reliabilities, including the relative percent error from each of these two sources, were determined for each structure, Intrac lass correlations ranged from 0.88 for the head of the caudate nucleus to 0.99 for the ventricular volume, Quantitative cerebral MRI measure s of these structures are stable over time intervals of 2-4 weeks.