MRtrix: Diffusion tractography in crossing fiber regions

TY - JOUR

T1 - MRtrix

T2 - Diffusion tractography in crossing fiber regions

AU - Tournier, Jacques-Donald

AU - Calamante, Fernando

AU - Connelly, Alan

PY - 2012/3

Y1 - 2012/3

N2 - In recent years, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has attracted considerable attention due to its unique potential to delineate the white matter pathways of the brain. However, methodologies currently available and in common use among neuroscientists and clinicians are typically based on the diffusion tensor model, which has comprehensively been shown to be inadequate to characterize diffusion in brain white matter. This is due to the fact that it is only capable of resolving a single fiber orientation per voxel, causing incorrect fiber orientations, and hence pathways, to be estimated through these voxels. Given that the proportion of affected voxels has been recently estimated at 90%, this is a serious limitation. Furthermore, most implementations use simple deterministic streamlines tracking algorithms, which have now been superseded by probabilistic approaches. In this study, we present a robust set of tools to perform tractography, using fiber orientations estimated using the validated constrained spherical deconvolution method, coupled with a probabilistic streamlines tracking algorithm. This methodology is shown to provide superior delineations of a number of known white matter tracts, in a manner robust to crossing fiber effects. These tools have been compiled into a software package, called MRtrix, which has been made freely available for use by the scientific community.

AB - In recent years, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has attracted considerable attention due to its unique potential to delineate the white matter pathways of the brain. However, methodologies currently available and in common use among neuroscientists and clinicians are typically based on the diffusion tensor model, which has comprehensively been shown to be inadequate to characterize diffusion in brain white matter. This is due to the fact that it is only capable of resolving a single fiber orientation per voxel, causing incorrect fiber orientations, and hence pathways, to be estimated through these voxels. Given that the proportion of affected voxels has been recently estimated at 90%, this is a serious limitation. Furthermore, most implementations use simple deterministic streamlines tracking algorithms, which have now been superseded by probabilistic approaches. In this study, we present a robust set of tools to perform tractography, using fiber orientations estimated using the validated constrained spherical deconvolution method, coupled with a probabilistic streamlines tracking algorithm. This methodology is shown to provide superior delineations of a number of known white matter tracts, in a manner robust to crossing fiber effects. These tools have been compiled into a software package, called MRtrix, which has been made freely available for use by the scientific community.

KW - diffusion MRI

KW - tractography

KW - fiber tracking

KW - crossing fibers

KW - PERSISTENT ANGULAR STRUCTURE

KW - HUMAN BRAIN

KW - SPHERICAL DECONVOLUTION

KW - WEIGHTED MRI

KW - ORIENTATION DISTRIBUTIONS

KW - TENSOR MRI

KW - TRACKING

KW - RESOLUTION

KW - TISSUE

KW - STRATEGIES

U2 - 10.1002/ima.22005

DO - 10.1002/ima.22005

M3 - Article

SN - 0899-9457

VL - 22

SP - 53

EP - 66

JO - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY

JF - INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMAGING SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGY

IS - 1

ER -