Polynomial Models of the Spatial Variation of Axon Radius in White Matter

Gemma Louise Morgan¹, Rexford D. Newbould², Brandon Whitcher², Daniel C. Alexander¹

Axon radius r is a potentially useful clinical biomarker that can be derived from diffusion weighted imaging. However its estimation in a clinical setting is hampered by poor signal-to-noise ratio and limited sensitivity to small axon radii at low gradient strengths. In this study we introduce a technique for estimating a mean radius index ρ that exploits the spatial coherence of axon radii across the corpus callosum. Specifically, we fit a polynomial model of the spatial variation of ρ. This significantly reduces the total number of parameters to estimate and provides sensitivity to axon radius, even at typical clinical gradient strengths.