Computational Reproducibility in Metabolite Quantification Applied to Short Echo Time in Vivo MR Spectroscopy

In vivo metabolite quantification by short echo time MR spectroscopy is a challenge for which various methods have been proposed. In this study, the reproducibility of quantification outcomes is questioned at three distinct levels: (i) between-software (LCModel and cQUEST), (ii) withinsoftware (with different parameter sets), and (iii) across software executions (when the fitting algorithm uses random seeds, like cQUEST). After running multiple quantification tasks on a dedicated platform (VIP), metrics from Bland-Altman analysis were used to assess the variability of outcomes in signals acquired on a lysolecithin rat model, from a study on demyelination. Results show substantial variations at the three levels, allowing for more potent analyses than from a single parameter set / single software point of view.