Optimization of white matter tractography for pre-surgical planning and image-guided surgery.
Accurate localization of white matter fiber tracts in relation to brain tumors is a goal of critical importance to the neurosurgical community. White matter fiber tractography by means of diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) is the only non-invasive method that can provide estimates of brain connectivity. However, conventional tractography methods are based on data acquisition techniques that suffer from image distortions and artifacts. Thus, a large percentage of white matter fiber bundles are distorted, and/or terminated early, while others are completely undetected. This severely limits the potential of fiber tractography in pre-surgical planning and image-guided surgery. In contrast, Turboprop-DTI is a technique that provides images with significantly fewer distortions and artifacts than conventional DTI data acquisition methods. The purpose of this study was to evaluate fiber tracking results obtained from Turboprop-DTI data. It was demonstrated that Turboprop may be a more appropriate DTI data acquisition technique for tracing white matter fibers than conventional DTI methods, especially in applications such as pre-surgical planning and image-guided surgery.
Arfanakis
Konstantinos
K
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, 10 West 32nd Street, Chicago, IL 60616, USA. arfanakis@iit.edu
Gui
Minzhi
M
Lazar
Mariana
M
D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D006801:Humans; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D011300:Preoperative Care