• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.317-324
• /
• 2007

The application of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and fiber tractography to Wallerian degeneration (WD) is important because this technique is a very potent tools for quantitatively evaluating fiber tracts in vivo brain. We analyzed a case and control using tracts of interest (TOI) analysis to quantify WD. We scanned a case of old infarction and an age-matched healthy volunteer. T1 magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo (MPRAGE), fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and 12-direction diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were obtained and analyzed using TOI analysis. The value of mean diffusity ($D_{av}$) and fracional anisotrophy (FA) were analyzed statistically by MWU test. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance. A comparison of the global fiber diffusion characteristics shows WD of both the corpus callosum and the ipsilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus. The corpus callosum in particular showed trans-hemispherical degeneration. Local fiber characteristics along the geodesic paths show WD in the corpus callosum, ipsilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus, ipsilateral corticospinal tract, and ipsilateral corticothalamic tract. We have demonstrated changes in $D_{av}$ and FA values and a clear correspondence with the WD in various tracts. TOI analysis successfully revealed radial WD in white matter tracts from a region of encephalomalacia and primary gliosis, although they were only slightly affected.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.63 no.2
• /
• pp.248-260
• /
• 2020

Objective : To investigate the efficiency of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber-tracking based neuronavigation and assess its usefulness in the preoperative surgical planning, prognostic prediction, intraoperative course and outcome improvement. Methods : Seventeen patients with cerebral masses adjacent to corticospinal tract (CST) were given standard magnetic resonance imaging and DTI examination. By incorporation of DTI data, the relation between tumor and adjacent white matter tracts was reconstructed and assessed in the neuronavigation system. Distance from tumor border to CST was measured. Results : The sub-portion of CST in closest proximity to tumor was found displaced in all patients. The chief disruptive changes were classified as follows : complete interruption, partial interruption, or simple displacement. Partial interruption was evident in seven patients (41.2%) whose lesions were close to cortex. In the other 10 patients (58.8%), delineated CSTs were intact but distorted. No complete CST interruption was identified. Overall, the mean distance from resection border to CST was 6.12 mm (range, 0-21), as opposed to 8.18 mm (range, 2-21) with simple displacement and 2.33 mm (range, 0-5) with partial interruption. The clinical outcomes were analyzed in groups stratified by intervening distances (close, <5 mm; moderated, 5-10 mm; far, >10 mm). For the primary brain tumor patients, the proportion of completely resected tumors increased progressively from close to far grouping (42.9%, 50%, and 100%, respectively). Five patients out of seven (71.4%) experienced new neurologic deficits postoperatively in the close group. At meantime, motor deterioration was found in six cases in the close group. All patients in the far and moderate groups received excellent (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] score, 0-1) or good (mRS score, 2-3) rankings, but only 57.1% of patients in the close group earned good outcome scores. Conclusion : DTI fiber tracking based neuronavigation has merit in assessing the relation between lesions and adjacent white matter tracts, allowing prediction of patient outcomes based on lesion-CST distance. It has also proven beneficial in formulating surgical strategies.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
• /
• v.47 no.4
• /
• pp.30-39
• /
• 2010

Since Diffusion tensor from Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging(DT-MRI) is so sensitive to noise, the principle eigenvector(PEV) calculated from Diffusion tensor could be erroneous. Tractography obtained from PEV could be deviated from the real fiber tract. Therefore regularization process is needed to eliminate noise. In this paper, to reduce noise in DT-MRI measurements, the Dyadic Sorting(DS) method as regularization of the eigenvalue and the eigenvector is applied in the tractography. To resort the eigenvalues and the eignevectors, the DS method uses the intervoxel overlap function which can measure the overlap between eigenvalue-eigenvector pairs in the $3\times3$ pixel. In this paper, we applied the DS method to the three-dimensional volume. We discuss the error analysis and numerical study to the synthetic and the experimental data. As a result, we have shown that the DS method is more efficient than the median filtering methods as much as 79.97%~83.64%, 85.62%~87.76% in AAE, AFA respectively for the corticospinal tract of the experimental data.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.40-46
• /
• 2009

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the quantitative evaluation of the corticospinal tract (CST) at the multiple levels by using functional MRI (fMRI) co-registered to diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Materials and Methods : Ten normal subjects without any history of neurological disorder participated in this study. fMRI was performed at 1.5 T MR scanner using hand grasp-release movement paradigm. DTT was performed by using DtiStudio on the basis of fiber assignment continuous tracking algorithm (FACT). The seed region of interest (ROI) was drawn in the area of maximum fMRI activation during the motor task of hand grasp-release movement on a 2-D fractional anisotropy (FA) color map, and the target ROI was drawn in the cortiocospinal portion of anterior lower pons. We have drawn five ROIs for the measurement of FA and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) along the corona radiata (CR) down to the medulla. Results : The contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) was mainly found to be activated in all subjects. DTT showed that tracts originated from SM1 and ran to the medulla along the known pathway of the CST. In all subjects, FA values of the CST were higher at the level of the midbrain and posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC) than the level of others. Conclusion : Our study showed that co-registered fMRI and DTT has elucidated the state of CST on 3-D and analyzed the quantitative values of FA and ADC at the multiple levels. We conclude that co-registered fMRI and DTT may be applied as a useful tool for clarifying and investigating the state of CST in the patients with brain injury.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.55 no.5
• /
• pp.267-272
• /
• 2014

Objective : Differentiation of demyelination in white matter from axonal damage can be determined using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). In this study using meningioma patients an attempt was made to evaluate the relationship between preoperative weakness and the changes of diffusion parameters in the corticospinal tract (CST) using DTI. Methods : Twenty-six patients with meningioma were enrolled in this study. Eleven of them suffered from objective motor weakness and were classified as Group 1. The remaining 15 patients did not present motor weakness and were classified as Group 2. Fiber tractography and CST diffusion parameters were obtained using DTIStudio. The ratios (lesion side mean value/contralateral side mean value) of CST diffusion parameters were compared with 1.0 as a test value using a one-sample t-test. Results : In Group 1, fractional anisotropy (FA), tensor trace (TT), and radial diffusivity (RD, ${\lambda}2$ and ${\lambda}3$) of the CST were significantly different between two hemispheres, but axial diffusivity (AD, ${\lambda}1$) of the CST was not significantly different between two hemispheres. In Group 2, FA and ${\lambda}3$ of CST did not differ significantly between the hemispheres. In Group 2, TT, ${\lambda}1$, and ${\lambda}2$ of CST in the ipsilateral hemisphere were significantly higher than those of the unaffected hemisphere. However, the differences were small. Conclusion : Motor weakness was related to a low FA and high TT resulting from increased RD of the CST fibers. CST diffusion changes in patients with weakness are similar to those for demyelination.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 2006

Purpose : Recent development of diffusion tensor imaging enables the evaluation of the microstructural characteristics of the brain white matter. However, optimal imaging parameters for diffusion tensor imaging, particularly concerning the number of diffusion gradient direction, have not been studied thoroughly yet. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of the number of diffusion gradient direction on the fiber tracking of the white matter. Materials and methods : 13 healthy volunteers (ten men and three women, mean age 30 years, age range 23-37 years) were included in this study. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed with different numbers of diffusion gradient direction as 6, 15, and 32, keeping the other imaging parameters constant. The imaging field ranged from 1 cm below the pons to 2-3 cm above the lateral ventricle, parallel to the anterior commissure-posterior commissure line. FA (fractional anisotropy) maps were created via image postprocessing, and then FA and its standard deviation were calculated in the genu and the splenium of the corpus callosum on each of FA maps. Fiber tracking of the corticospinal tract in the brain was performed and the number of the reconstructed fibers of the tract was measured. FA, standard deviation of FA and the number of the reconstructed fibers were compared statistically between the different diffusion gradient directions. Results : FA is not statistically significantly different between the different diffusion gradient directions. By increasing the number of diffusion gradient direction, standard deviation of FA decreased significantly, and the number of the reconstructed fibers increased significantly. Conclusion : The higher number of diffusion gradient direction provided better quality of fiber tracking.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.7-13
• /
• 2016

The goal of this study is to investigate corpus callosum and both internal capsule changes with the internet addiction disorder compared to control group using MR diffusion tensor imaging. A total of 22 teenager volunteers who had 10 high-risk group with internet addiction and 12 normal control group were conducted for this study. Imaging was conducted on a 3 T using a EPI sequence. Image evaluation was analysed of the FA, ADC($10^{-3}mm^2/s$), length(mm). We did select ROI for image tracking on corpus callosum of 5 and including 2(internal capsule). The data from these ROIs were compared statistically among the groups using independent t-test, correlation coefficient. There were significant inter-group differences(p<0.05) among FA, ADC($10^{-3}mm^2/s$) and length(mm). And also significantly negative correlations were fond between FA values of corpus callosum and IAD scale(p=0.000). DTI was shown significant changes of FA and ADC, LNF values in IAD compared to control group. Therefore, our results may provided clinical information for brain wite matter functions.

• Journal of Electrodiagnosis and Neuromuscular Diseases
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.106-111
• /
• 2018

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been a gold standard for investigating central motor pathways in humans. Diffusion tensor imaging with fiber tractography (DTI FT) is known for its usefulness in detecting white matter lesion in vivo. We investigated the clinical usefulness of elucidating the integrity and continuity of corticospinal tract (CST) by combined use of TMS and DTI FT in this study. We report two cases who have presented with left hemiparesis and evaluated by both TMS and DTI FT; 10-year-old boy with Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy with Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-like episode syndrome and 20-year-old woman with traumatic brain injury. Combined use of TMS and DTI FT successfully led to localize the brain lesion that might cause motor impairment in patients with abnormal signal intensities in MRI. The results of this study suggest that TMS and DTI FT might provide the detailed information between function and anatomy of the CST, complementarily.