Fernando Calamante1,2, Se-Hong Oh3,
Jacques-Donald Tournier1,2, Sung-Yeon Park3, Jun-Young
Chung3, Young-Don Son3, Je-Geun Chi3, Graeme
D. Jackson1,2, Young-Bo Kim3, Alan Connelly1,2,
Zang-Hee Cho3
1Brain Research Institute,
Florey Neuroscience Institutes, Heidelberg West, Victoria, Australia; 2Department
of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 3Neuroscience
Research Institute, Gachon University of Medicine & Science, Incheon,
Korea, Republic of
Accurate identification of sub-thalamic nuclei is of huge importance for many clinical applications, particularly those involving deep brain stimulation; however, this is not easily achieved with clinical MRI scanners. While this is now possible at ultra-high field MRI, access to this technology remains limited. The technique of super-resolution track-density imaging (TDI) has been shown to create images with very high resolution and anatomical contrast, based on the results from whole-brain fibre-tracking. In this study, we assess the role of TDI for direct visualisation of sub-thalamic nuclei and compare the results to those obtained using T1-weighted MRI at 7T.