MRI diffusion data suffers from significant inter-and intra-site variability, which hinders multi-site and/or longitudinal diffusion studies. This variability may arise from a range of factors, such as hardware, reconstruction algorithms and acquisition settings. To allow a reliable comparison and joint analysis of diffusion data across sites and over time, there is a clear need for robust data harmonization methods. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of diffusion data harmonization concepts and methods, and their limitations. Overall, the methods for the harmonization of multi-site diffusion images can be categorized in two main groups: diffusion parametric map harmonization (DPMH) and diffusion weighted image harmonization (DWIH). Whereas DPMH harmonizes the diffusion parametric maps (e.g., FA, MD, and MK), DWIH harmonizes the diffusionweighted images. Defining a gold standard harmonization technique for dMRI data is still an ongoing challenge. Nevertheless, in this paper we provide two classification tools, namely a feature table and a flowchart, which aim to guide the readers in selecting an appropriate harmonization method for their study.

Most data-driven methods are very susceptible to data variability. This problem is particularly apparent when applying Deep Learning (DL) to brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), where intensities and contrasts vary due to acquisition protocol, scanner- and center-specific factors. Most publicly available brain MRI datasets originate from the same center and are homogeneous in terms of scanner and used protocol. As such, devising robust methods that generalize to multi-scanner and multi-center data is crucial for transferring these techniques into clinical practice. We propose a novel data augmentation approach based on Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM-DA) with the goal of increasing the variability of a given dataset in terms of intensities and contrasts. The approach allows to augment the training dataset such that the variability in the training set compares to what is seen in real world clinical data, while preserving anatomical information. We compare the performance of a state-of-the-art U-Net model trained for segmenting brain structures with and without the addition of GMM-DA. The models are trained and evaluated on single- and multi-scanner datasets. Additionally, we verify the consistency of test-retest results on same-patient images (same and different scanners). Finally, we investigate how the presence of bias field influences the performance of a model trained with GMM-DA. We found that the addition of the GMM-DA improves the generalization capability of the DL model to other scanners not present in the training data, even when the train set is already multi-scanner. Besides, the consistency between same-patient segmentation predictions is improved, both for same-scanner and different-scanner repetitions. We conclude that GMM-DA could increase the transferability of DL models into clinical scenarios.

Most publicly available brain MRI datasets are very homogeneous in terms of scanner and protocols, and it is difficult for models that learn from such data to generalize to multi-center and multi-scanner data. We propose a novel data augmentation approach with the aim of approximating the variability in terms of intensities and contrasts present in real world clinical data. We use a Gaussian Mixture Model based approach to change tissue intensities individually, producing new contrasts while preserving anatomical information. We train a deep learning model on a single scanner dataset and evaluate it on a multi-center and multi-scanner dataset. The proposed approach improves the generalization capability of the model to other scanners not present in the training data.