Diffusion tensor imaging of peripheral nerves.
Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) allows the directional dependence of water diffusion to be studied. Analysis of the resulting image data allows for the determination of fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), as well as allowing three-dimensional visualization of the fiber tract (tractography). We visualized the ulnar nerve of ten healthy volunteers with DTI. We found FA to be 0.752 ± 0.067 and the ADC to be 0.96 ± 0.13 × 10(-3) mm(2)/s. A nuts-and-bolts description of the physical aspects of DTI is provided as an educational process for readers.
Jambawalikar
Sachin
S
SUNY Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Baum
Jeremy
J
Button
Terry
T
Li
Haifang
H
Geronimo
Veronica
V
Gould
Elaine S
ES
D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000473:pathology*; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000473:pathology*