Fernando Calamante1,2, Jacques-Donald Tournier1,2, Heath Pardoe1,2, Alan Connelly1,2
1Brain Research Institute, Florey Neuroscience Institutes (Austin), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
This study describes the use of whole-brain track-density mapping as a complementary tool for tractography. In particular, it is demonstrated to aid in definition of seed and target regions for tractography (making that important step more robust), and to facilitate normalization of fiber tracks for inter-subject comparisons. The maps are shown to have very good anatomical contrast, high spatial resolution, high SNR and, importantly, they are exactly in the same space (including distortions) as the diffusion data. Whole-brain track-density maps should play an important role in clinical and research studies.