Diffusion tensor imaging and brain fiber tracking

Diffusion tensor imaging measures restricted Brownian motion of water molecules in the human brain. Several quantitative measures have been developed that exhibit markers in pathological states such as stroke. Additionally, directional information can be extracted since water molecules diffuse preferentially parallel rather than perpendicular to nerve fibers. Recently, sophisticated fiber tracking algorithms have been developed that enable the reconstruction of virtual axonal projections in the human brain. A major problem of the technique is that it cannot resolve crossing nerve fibers within one voxel. To this end new fiber tracking algorithms will be developed that, on the one hand, show improved performance in crossing situations and, on the other hand, assign a probability to reconstructed virtual connections. The new algorithms will be verified extensively and will be applied in practice.

References

• P. Staempfli, A. Rienmueller, C. Reischauer,  A. Valavanis, P. Boesiger, and S. Kollias, Reconstruction of the human visual system based on DTI fiber tracking. J Magn Reson Imaging, 2007. 26(4): p. 886-893.
• P. Staempfli, T. Jaermann, G.R. Crelier, S. Kollias, A. Valavanis, and P. Boesiger, Resolving fiber crossing using advanced fast marching tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging. Neuroimage, 2006. 30(1): p. 110-120.

Contact

• Carolin Reischauer
  
• Dr. Philipp Staempfli
• Robert Vorburger