Magnetic Resonance Imaging Shows Orientation and Asymmetry of White Matter Tracts

S. Peled, H. Gudbjartsson, C.-F. Westin, R. Kikinis, F. A. Jolesz
Brain Research
Volume 780, Number 1, Pages 27-33
January, 1998

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Abstract

Apparent diffusion tensor maps of the human brain were acquired with a magnetic resonance imaging sequence (Gudbjartsson, H., Maier, S.E., Mulkern, R.V., Mo'rocz, I.A., Patz, S., Jolesz, F.A., Magn. Reson. Med. 36 (1996) 509-519). It was shown that the geometric nature of the apparent diffusion tensors can quantitatively characterize the tissue structure. Display of the orientation and directional uniformity of the water diffusion in the brain demonstrated most of the known major anatomical constituents of human white matter. A comparison of corresponding anatomic regions in the white matter of both hemispheres in 24 healthy volunteers revealed that fiber tracts within the anterior limb of the internal capsule have a significantly higher (P < 0.01) measure of alignment in the right hemisphere. This method offers a unique tool for the in vivo demonstration of neural connectivity in healthy and diseased brain.

Reference

Peled S, Gudbjartsson H, Westin CF, Kikinis R, Jolesz FA. Magnetic resonance imaging shows orientation and asymmetry of white matter tracts. Brain Research 1998;780(1):27-33.

Bibtex entry

@Article{peledBrainResearch98,
  author         = {S. Peled and H. Gudbjartsson and C.-F. Westin and R.       
                   Kikinis and F. A. Jolesz},                                  
  title          = {Magnetic Resonance Imaging Shows Orientation and Asymmetry 
                   of White Matter Tracts},                                    
  journal        = {Brain Research},                                           
  year           = 1998,                                                       
  volume         = 780,                                                        
  number         = 1,                                                          
  month          = {January},                                                  
  pages          = {27--33}
}

Grants

NIH R01-CA45743

Research areas

DTMRI, Tensor