scholarly journals Magnetic resonance tractography based on the constrained spherical deconvolution in patients with gliomas of the optic pathway

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20
Author(s):  
A. A. Baev ◽  
E. L. Pogosbekian ◽  
N. E. Zakharova ◽  
D. I. Pitskhelauri ◽  
A. I. Batalov ◽  
...  

Background: The use of magnetic resonance (MR) tractography in neurosurgery is becoming an increasingly common practice for noninvasive imaging of white matter pathways. The most common method of tract reconstruction is the deterministic algorithm of diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, this method of reconstructing pathways has a  number of significant limitations. The most important of them are the lack of the possibility of visualizing the intersecting fibers, the complexity of building tracts in the area of perifocal edema and in the immediate vicinity of the tumor borders. The method of MR tractography, based on obtaining a  diffusion image with a  high angular resolution (High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging, HARDI), using the constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) algorithm for post-processing of data, makes it possible to avoid these disadvantages. Relatively recently, a new algorithm, Single-Shell 3-Tissue CSD (SS3TCSD), has been proposed for processing HARDI data, which has the potential to improve the reconstructing of pathways in the area of perifocal edema or edema-infiltration.Aim: To evaluate the potential of the new SS3TCSD algorithm compared to ST-CSD (Single-Tissue CSD) in the imaging of the optic radiation and visual tracts in patients with gliomas.Materials and methods: Diffusion and routine brain MRI was performed in 10 patients with newly diagnosed cerebral gliomas, followed by reconstruction of the optic radiation and visual tracts. We compared new algorithms for postprocessing MR tractography (ST-CSD and SS3TCSD) in imaging of the optic tract and visual radiation in patients with brain gliomas affecting various parts of the visual system.Results: The SS3T-CSD method showed a  lower mean percentage of false positive tracts compared to the ST-CSD method: 19.75% for the SS3T-CSD method and 80.32% for the ST-CSD method in cases of proximity of the tumor to the tracts, 5.27% for the SS3T-CSD method and 25.27% for the STCSD method in cases of reconstructing tracts in healthy white matter.Conclusion: The SS3T-CSD method has a number of advantages over ST-CSD and allows for successful imaging of the optic pathways that have a complex structure and repeatedly change direction along their course.

2005 ◽  
Vol 360 (1457) ◽  
pp. 869-879 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S Tuch ◽  
Jonathan J Wisco ◽  
Mark H Khachaturian ◽  
Leeland B Ekstrom ◽  
Rolf Kötter ◽  
...  

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging holds substantial promise as a technique for non-invasive imaging of white matter (WM) axonal projections. For diffusion imaging to be capable of providing new insight into the connectional neuroanatomy of the human brain, it will be necessary to histologically validate the technique against established tracer methods such as horseradish peroxidase and biocytin histochemistry. The macaque monkey provides an ideal model for histological validation of the diffusion imaging method due to the phylogenetic proximity between humans and macaques, the gyrencephalic structure of the macaque cortex, the large body of knowledge on the neuroanatomic connectivity of the macaque brain and the ability to use comparable magnetic resonance acquisition protocols in both species. Recently, it has been shown that high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) can resolve multiple axon orientations within an individual imaging voxel in human WM. This capability promises to boost the accuracy of tract reconstructions from diffusion imaging. If the macaque is to serve as a model for histological validation of the diffusion tractography method, it will be necessary to show that HARDI can also resolve intravoxel architecture in macaque WM. The present study therefore sought to test whether the technique can resolve intravoxel structure in macaque WM. Using a HARDI method called q -ball imaging (QBI) it was possible to resolve composite intravoxel architecture in a number of anatomic regions. QBI resolved intravoxel structure in, for example, the dorsolateral convexity, the pontine decussation, the pulvinar and temporal subcortical WM. The paper concludes by reviewing remaining challenges for the diffusion tractography project.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannelore Aerts ◽  
Thijs Dhollander ◽  
Daniele Marinazzo

AbstractThe use of diffusion MRI (dMRI) for assisting in the planning of neurosurgery has become increasingly common practice, allowing to non-invasively map white matter pathways via tractography techniques. Limitations of earlier pipelines based on the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) model have since been revealed and improvements were made possible by constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) pipelines. CSD allows to resolve a full white matter (WM) fiber orientation distribution (FOD), which can describe so-called “crossing fibers”: complex local geometries of WM tracts, which DTI fails to model. This was found to have a profound impact on tractography results, with substantial implications for presurgical decision making and planning. More recently, CSD itself has been extended to allow for modeling of other tissue compartments in addition to the WM FOD, typically resulting in a 3-tissue CSD model. It seems likely this may improve the capability to resolve WM FODs in the presence of infiltrating tumor tissue. In this work, we evaluated the performance of 3-tissue CSD pipelines, with a focus on within-tumor tractography. We found that a technique named single-shell 3-tissue CSD (SS3T-CSD) successfully allowed tractography within infiltrating gliomas, without increasing existing single-shell dMRI acquisition requirements.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Adelino R. Ferreira da Silva

We present a new methodology based on directional data clustering to represent white matter fiber orientations in magnetic resonance analyses for high angular resolution diffusion imaging. A probabilistic methodology is proposed for estimating intravoxel principal fiber directions, based on clustering directional data arising from orientation distribution function (ODF) profiles. ODF reconstructions are used to estimate intravoxel fiber directions using mixtures of von Mises-Fisher distributions. The method focuses on clustering data on the unit sphere, where complexity arises from representing ODF profiles as directional data. The proposed method is validated on synthetic simulations, as well as on a real data experiment. Based on experiments, we show that by clustering profile data using mixtures of von Mises-Fisher distributions it is possible to estimate multiple fiber configurations in a more robust manner than currently used approaches, without recourse to regularization or sharpening procedures. The method holds promise to support robust tractographic methodologies and to build realistic models of white matter tracts in the human brain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ami Tsuchida ◽  
Alexandre Laurent ◽  
Fabrice Crivello ◽  
Laurent Petit ◽  
Antonietta Pepe ◽  
...  

Human brain white matter undergoes a protracted maturation that continues well into adulthood. Recent advances in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) methods allow detailed characterizations of the microstructural architecture of white matter, and they are increasingly utilized to study white matter changes during development and aging. However, relatively little is known about the late maturational changes in the microstructural architecture of white matter during post-adolescence. Here we report on regional changes in white matter volume and microstructure in young adults undergoing university-level education. As part of the MRi-Share multi-modal brain MRI database, multi-shell, high angular resolution DWI data were acquired in a unique sample of 1,713 university students aged 18–26. We assessed the age and sex dependence of diffusion metrics derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) in the white matter regions as defined in the John Hopkins University (JHU) white matter labels atlas. We demonstrate that while regional white matter volume is relatively stable over the age range of our sample, the white matter microstructural properties show clear age-related variations. Globally, it is characterized by a robust increase in neurite density index (NDI), and to a lesser extent, orientation dispersion index (ODI). These changes are accompanied by a decrease in diffusivity. In contrast, there is minimal age-related variation in fractional anisotropy. There are regional variations in these microstructural changes: some tracts, most notably cingulum bundles, show a strong age-related increase in NDI coupled with decreases in radial and mean diffusivity, while others, mainly cortico-spinal projection tracts, primarily show an ODI increase and axial diffusivity decrease. These age-related variations are not different between males and females, but males show higher NDI and ODI and lower diffusivity than females across many tracts. These findings emphasize the complexity of changes in white matter structure occurring in this critical period of late maturation in early adulthood.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Kimpton ◽  
D. Batalle ◽  
M. L. Barnett ◽  
E. J. Hughes ◽  
A. T. M. Chew ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) studies report altered white matter (WM) development in preterm infants. Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) metrics provide more realistic estimations of neurite architecture in vivo compared with standard diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics. This study investigated microstructural maturation of WM in preterm neonates scanned between 25 and 45 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA) with normal neurodevelopmental outcomes at 2 years using DTI and NODDI metrics. Methods Thirty-one neonates (n = 17 male) with median (range) gestational age (GA) 32+1 weeks (24+2–36+4) underwent 3 T brain MRI at median (range) post menstrual age (PMA) 35+2 weeks (25+3–43+1). WM tracts (cingulum, fornix, corticospinal tract (CST), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), optic radiations) were delineated using constrained spherical deconvolution and probabilistic tractography in MRtrix3. DTI and NODDI metrics were extracted for the whole tract and cross-sections along each tract to assess regional development. Results PMA at scan positively correlated with fractional anisotropy (FA) in the CST, fornix and optic radiations and neurite density index (NDI) in the cingulum, CST and fornix and negatively correlated with mean diffusivity (MD) in all tracts. A multilinear regression model demonstrated PMA at scan influenced all diffusion measures, GA and GAxPMA at scan influenced FA, MD and NDI and gender affected NDI. Cross-sectional analyses revealed asynchronous WM maturation within and between WM tracts.). Conclusion We describe normal WM maturation in preterm neonates with normal neurodevelopmental outcomes. NODDI can enhance our understanding of WM maturation compared with standard DTI metrics alone.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Calamuneri ◽  
Alessandro Arrigo ◽  
Enricomaria Mormina ◽  
Demetrio Milardi ◽  
Alberto Cacciola ◽  
...  

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