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Abstract #2730

Bootstrap Tractography using Multimodal Fiber Orientation Data from High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging

Han E, Hess C, Chung S, Berman J, Henry R, Mukherjee P
GE Healthcare Global Applied Science Laboratory

Bootstrap analysis, a model independent method of characterizing uncertainty, was applied to fiber tracking using the multimodal intravoxel fiber orientation information from q-ball reconstruction of high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). Whole-brain HARDI was acquired with 55 gradient directions at b=3000 s/mm2 and repeated 3 times for bootstrap resampling. Bootstrap HARDI fiber tracks, launched from the corpus callosum, traversed regions of crossing fibers to reveal connectivity matching the known anatomy of these commissural pathways. In comparison, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber tractography using a deterministic streamline method was only able to delineate the superior projection of these commissural fibers.