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ABSTRACT: Diffusion tensor tractography is increasingly used to examine structural connectivity in the brain in various conditions, but its test-retest reliability is understudied. The main purposes of this study were to evaluate 1) the reliability of quantitative measurements of diffusion tensor tractography and 2) the effect on reliability of the number of gradient sampling directions and scan repetition. Images were acquired from ten healthy participants. Ten fiber regions of nine major fiber tracts were reconstructed and quantified using six fiber variables. Intra- and inter-session reliabilities were estimated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV), and were compared to pinpoint major error sources. Additional pairwise comparisons were made between the reliability of images with 30 directions and NEX 2 (DTI30-2), 30 directions and NEX 1 (DTI30-1), and 15 directions and NEX 2 (DTI15-2) to determine whether increasing gradient directions and scan repetition improved reliability. Of the 60 tractography measurements, 43 showed intersession CV ≤ 10%, ICC ≥ .70, or both for DTI30-2, 40 measurements for DTI30-1, and 37 for DTI15-2. Most of the reliable measurements were associated with the tracts corpus callosum, cingulum, cerebral peduncular fibers, uncinate fasciculus, and arcuate fasciculus. These reliable measurements included factional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity of all 10 fiber regions. Intersession reliability was significantly worse than intra-session reliability for FA, mean length, and tract volume measurements from DTI15-2, indicating that the combination of MRI signal variation and physiological noise/change over time was the major error source for this sequence. Increasing the number of gradient directions from 15 to 30 while controlling the scan time, significantly affected values for all six variables and reduced intersession variability for mean length and tract volume measurements. Additionally, while increasing scan repetition from 1 to 2 had no significant effect on the reliability for DTI with 30 directions, this significantly reduced the upward bias in FA values from all 10 fiber regions and fiber count, mean length, and tract volume measurements from 5 to 7 fiber regions. In conclusion, diffusion tensor tractography provided many measurements with high test-retest reliability across different fiber variables and various fiber tracts even for images with 15 directions (NEX 2). Increasing the number of gradient directions from 15 to 30 with equivalent scan time reduced variability whereas increasing repetition from 1 to 2 for 30-direction DTI improved the accuracy of tractography measurements.
NeuroImage 12/2011; 60(2):1127-38. · 5.89 Impact Factor
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Carlos D Marquez de la Plata,
Fanpei Gloria Yang,
Jun Yi Wang,
Kamini Krishnan, Khamid Bakhadirov,
Christopher Paliotta,
Sina Aslan,
Michael D Devous,
Carol Moore,
Caryn Harper,
Roderick McColl,
C Munro Cullum,
Ramon Diaz-Arrastia
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ABSTRACT: Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is a common mechanism of traumatic brain injury not readily identified using conventional neuroimaging modalities. Novel imaging modalities such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can detect microstructural compromise in white matter (WM) in various clinical populations including TAI. DTI-derived data can be analyzed using global methods (i.e., WM histogram or voxel-based approaches) or a regional approach (i.e., tractography). While each of these methods produce qualitatively comparable results, it is not clear which is most useful in clinical research and ultimately in clinical practice. This study compared three methods of analyzing DTI-derived data with regard to detection of WM injury and their association with clinical outcomes. Thirty patients with TAI and 19 demographically similar normal controls were scanned using a 3 Tesla magnet. Patients were scanned approximately eight months postinjury, and underwent an outcomes assessment at that time. Histogram analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity showed global WM integrity differences between patients and controls. Voxel-based and tractography analyses showed significant decreases in FA within centroaxial structures involved in TAI. All three techniques were associated with functional and cognitive outcomes. DTI measures of microstructural integrity appear robust, as the three analysis techniques studied showed adequate utility for detecting WM injury.
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society 11/2010; 17(1):24-35. · 2.76 Impact Factor
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Jun Yi Wang, Khamid Bakhadirov,
Michael D Devous,
Hervé Abdi,
Roddy McColl,
Carol Moore,
Carlos D Marquez de la Plata,
Kan Ding,
Anthony Whittemore,
Evelyn Babcock,
Tiffany Rickbeil,
Julia Dobervich,
David Kroll,
Bao Dao,
Nisha Mohindra,
Christopher J Madden,
Ramon Diaz-Arrastia
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ABSTRACT: Diffuse axonal injury is a common consequence of traumatic brain injury that frequently involves the parasagittal white matter, corpus callosum, and brainstem.
To examine the potential of diffusion tensor tractography in detecting diffuse axonal injury at the acute stage of injury and predicting long-term functional outcome.
Tract-derived fiber variables were analyzed to distinguish patients from control subjects and to determine their relationship to outcome.
Inpatient traumatic brain injury unit.
From 2005 to 2006, magnetic resonance images were acquired in 12 patients approximately 7 days after injury and in 12 age- and sex-matched controls.
Six fiber variables of the corpus callosum, fornix, and peduncular projections were obtained. Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended scores were assessed approximately 9 months after injury in 11 of the 12 patients.
At least 1 fiber variable of each region showed diffuse axonal injury-associated alterations. At least 1 fiber variable of the anterior body and splenium of the corpus callosum correlated significantly with the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended scores. The predicted outcome scores correlated significantly with actual scores in a mixed-effects model.
Diffusion tensor tractography-based quantitative analysis at the acute stage of injury has the potential to serve as a valuable biomarker of diffuse axonal injury and predict long-term outcome.
Archives of neurology 06/2008; 65(5):619-26. · 6.31 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: This paper presents a set of validation procedures for nonrigid registration of functional EPI to anatomical MRI brain images. Although various registration techniques have been developed and validated for high-resolution anatomical MRI images, due to a lack of quantitative and qualitative validation procedures, the use of nonrigid registration between functional EPI and anatomical MRI images has not yet been deployed in neuroimaging studies. In this paper, the performance of a robust formulation of a nonrigid registration technique is evaluated in a quantitative manner based on simulated data and is further evaluated in a quantitative and qualitative manner based on in vivo data as compared to the commonly used rigid and affine registration techniques in the neuroimaging software packages. The nonrigid registration technique is formulated as a second-order constrained optimization problem using a free-form deformation model and mutual information similarity measure. Bound constraints, resolution level and cross-validation issues have been discussed to show the degree of accuracy and effectiveness of the nonrigid registration technique. The analyses performed reveal that the nonrigid approach provides a more accurate registration, in particular when the functional regions of interest lie in regions distorted by susceptibility artifacts.
IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering 03/2008; 55(2 Pt 1):563-71. · 2.15 Impact Factor
