MR tractography with diffusion tensor imaging in clinical routine.
Using MRI, we demonstrated that the depiction of the cerebral white matter fiber tracts has become a routine procedure. Diffusion tensor (DT) sequences may be analyzed with combined volume analysis and tractography extraction software, giving indirect visualization of white matter connections. We obtained DT data from 20 subjects with normal MR imaging and five patients presenting cerebral diseases such as brain tumors, multiple sclerosis and stroke, with five patients explored on two different MR scanners. Data were transferred to dedicated workstations for anatomical realignment, determination of voxel eigenvectors and calculation of fiber tract orientations in a region of interest. In all subjects, axonal directions underlying the main neuronal pathways could be delineated. Comparisons between diseased regions and contralateral areas demonstrated changes in voxel anisotropy in injured regions, revealing possible preferential fiber orientations within diffuse T2 hyperintensities. Rapid data processing allows imaging of the normal and diseased fiber pathways as part of the routine MRI examination. Therefore, it appears that whenever white matter disease is suspected a tractography can be performed with this fast and simple method that we proved to be reliable and reproducible.
Nguyen
T H
TH
Department of Neuro-Imaging, Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des XV-XX, UPMC Paris 6, CNRS UMR 6569, UPR 2147, Paris, France. thnguyenfr@yahoo.fr
Yoshida
M
M
Stievenart
J L
JL
Iba-Zizen
M T
MT
Bellinger
L
L
Abanou
A
A
Kitahara
K
K
Cabanis
E A
EA
D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000473:pathology