title: The DTI Challenge: Toward Standardized Evaluation of Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography for Neurosurgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography reconstruction of white matter pathways can help guide brain tumor resection. However, DTI tracts are complex mathematical objects and the validity of tractography-derived information in clinical settings has yet to be fully established. To address this issue, we initiated the DTI Challenge, an international working group of clinicians and scientists whose goal was to provide standardized evaluation of tractography methods for neurosurgery. The purpose of this empirical study was to evaluate different tractography techniques in the first DTI Challenge workshop.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight international teams from leading institutions reconstructed the pyramidal tract in four neurosurgical cases presenting with a glioma near the motor cortex. Tractography methods included deterministic, probabilistic, filtered, and global approaches. Standardized evaluation of the tracts consisted in the qualitative review of the pyramidal pathways by a panel of neurosurgeons and DTI experts and the quantitative evaluation of the degree of agreement among methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The evaluation of tractography reconstructions showed a great interalgorithm variability. Although most methods found projections of the pyramidal tract from the medial portion of the motor strip, only a few algorithms could trace the lateral projections from the hand, face, and tongue area. In addition, the structure of disagreement among methods was similar across hemispheres despite the anatomical distortions caused by pathological tissues.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The DTI Challenge provides a benchmark for the standardized evaluation of tractography methods on neurosurgical data. This study suggests that there are still limitations to the clinical use of tractography for neurosurgical decision making.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pujol
authors.affiliation: Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wells
authors.affiliation: Program on Pediatric Imaging and Tissue Sciences, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda.
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pierpaoli
authors.affiliation: Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brun
authors.affiliation: Penn Image Computing and Science Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gee
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville.
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville.
authors.forename: Baba
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vemuri
authors.affiliation: University of Rennes I, VISAGES INSERM - U746 CNRS UMR6074 - INRIA, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Commowick
authors.affiliation: University of Rennes I, VISAGES INSERM - U746 CNRS UMR6074 - INRIA, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Prima
authors.affiliation: University of Rennes I, VISAGES INSERM - U746 CNRS UMR6074 - INRIA, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Aymeric
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stamm
authors.affiliation: Imaging Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Maged
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goubran
authors.affiliation: Imaging Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Imaging Laboratories, Robarts Research Institute, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Junior Group Medical Image Computing, Division of Medical and Biological Informatics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Neher
authors.affiliation: Junior Group Medical Image Computing, Division of Medical and Biological Informatics, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Klaus H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Maier-Hein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Yundi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tristan-Vega
authors.affiliation: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
authors.forename: Gopalkrishna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Veni
authors.affiliation: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Whitaker
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Styner
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Mathematics in Imaging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Carl-Fredrik
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Westin
authors.affiliation: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gouttard
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Isaiah
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Norton
authors.affiliation: Surgical Navigation and Robotics Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chauvin
authors.affiliation: Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Hatsuho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mamata
authors.affiliation: Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerig
authors.affiliation: International Neuroscience Institute (INI), Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Arya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nabavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golby
authors.affiliation: Surgical Planning Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kikinis
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005910:Glioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D012015:Reference Standards; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Diffusion MRI; brain gliomas; diffusion tensor imaging (DTI); neurosurgery; tractography