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Citation
Tags
HERO ID
6157889
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Diffusion spectrum magnetic resonance imaging (DSI) tractography of crossing fibers
Author(s)
Wedeen, VJ; Wang, RP; Schmahmann, JD; Benner, T; Tseng, WYI; Dai, G; Pandya, DN; Hagmann, P; D'Arceuil, H; de Crespignya, AJ
Year
2008
Is Peer Reviewed?
1
Journal
NeuroImage
ISSN:
1053-8119
EISSN:
1095-9572
Volume
41
Issue
4
Page Numbers
1267-1277
Language
English
PMID
18495497
DOI
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.03.036
Web of Science Id
WOS:000256620400010
Abstract
MRI tractography is the mapping of neural fiber pathways based on diffusion MRI of tissue diffusion anisotropy. Tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) cannot directly image multiple fiber orientations within a single voxel. To address this limitation, diffusion spectrum MRI (DSI) and related methods were developed to image complex distributions of intravoxel fiber orientation. Here we demonstrate that tractography based on DSI has the capacity to image crossing fibers in neural tissue. DSI was performed in formalin-fixed brains of adult macaque and in the brains of healthy human subjects. Fiber tract solutions were constructed by a streamline procedure, following directions of maximum diffusion at every point, and analyzed in an interactive visualization environment (TrackVis). We report that DSI tractography accurately shows the known anatomic fiber crossings in optic chiasm, centrum semiovale, and brainstem; fiber intersections in gray matter, including cerebellar folia and the caudate nucleus; and radial fiber architecture in cerebral cortex. In contrast, none of these examples of fiber crossing and complex structure was identified by DTI analysis of the same data sets. These findings indicate that DSI tractography is able to image crossing fibers in neural tissue, an essential step toward non-invasive imaging of connectional neuroanatomy.
Keywords
magnetic resonance imaging; diffusion spectrum imaging; diffusion tensor imaging; fiber crossing; neuroanatomy
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