Nonlinear Normalization of Magnetization Transfer Ratio Images for Multi-Centre Clinical Trials

Robert Allan Brown¹, Sridar Narayanan¹, Douglas L. Arnold¹

Magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) is a magnetic resonance imaging technique that can be used to measure changes in myelin. However, different MTR sequences produce data on different scales, making multi-site or long duration longitudinal studies difficult. We propose a non-linear normalization method to map scanner-specific MTR values to a standard scale. We compare this method with an existing linear normalization method and uncorrected data.