Harmonized Acquisition of Connectome MRI and Clinical Data for Stroke, Parkinson's Disease and Glioma: Delphi-Derived Protocol Recommendations by the European Academy of Neurology.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: The European Academy of Neurology (EAN) joined the Horizon Europe EBRAINS 2.0 research consortium to co-develop recommendations for prospective acquisition and integration of clinical and research core multi-scale human datasets for connectome analysis in stroke, Parkinson's disease (PD), and glioma (GBM).

METHODS

Using an online Delphi survey method, expert consensus was sought on 28 statements for each of the following protocols in stroke, PD and GBM: clinical core/research brain MRI, minimum/extended clinical outcomes, minimum/extended cognition assessments, case report forms (CRF). The level of agreement for each statement was predefined as ≥ 80%. 536 experts from four EAN Scientific Panels (SP) (SP Neuro-oncology [n = 70], SP Movement Disorders [n = 206], SP Neuroimaging [n = 112], SP Stroke [n = 148]) were invited to participate in this Delphi process.

RESULTS

Two Delphi voting rounds were conducted to reach the predefined level of agreement (≥ 80%; range: 80.49%-100%) for all items to establish consensus on protocol recommendations for stroke, PD and GBM. Cumulative response rate from SP experts was 25% (n = 135 from 30 European countries) for the first, and 32% (n = 173 from 35 European countries) for the second Delphi voting round.

DISCUSSION: These consented protocols provide a pragmatic framework for harmonizing multi-scale data acquisition for connectome analyses in stroke, PD, and GBM. Further, these protocols allow future modular extensions for other datasets, e.g., neurophysiological data or non-imaging biomarkers, and serve as a role model for brain network analyses in other neurological disorders.