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Abstract #2806

DTI Geometric Distortion Correction by Non-Linear Registration and Field Map Correction: Quantitative Analysis of DTI Tractography and Fractional Anisotropy

David Rotenberg 1 , Peter Savadjiev 2 , Yogesh Rathi 2 , Aristotle Voineskos 3,4 , and M. Mallar Chakravarty 5,6

1 Research Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2 Laboratory of Mathematics and Imaging, Harvard Medical School, MA, United States, 3 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Ontario, Canada, 4 Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 5 Cerebral Imaging Centre, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Quebec, Canada, 6 Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Quebec, Canada

Diffusion Weighted imaging data are typically collected with echo planar imaging (EPI) sequences, prone to geometric distortion in the phase-encode direction. Geometric distortion in EPI images can be minimized by non-linear registration to an anatomical reference image, or by using b0 field maps. In this work we perform an investigation of both field mapping and non-linear registration distortion correction techniques, to evaluate their effect on standard downstream diffusion tensor imaging metrics and tractography. We also present SSECC (Simultaneous Susceptibility and Eddy Current Correction),which corrects for the unique eddy-current and geometric distortions affecting each diffusion image, in an integrated fashion. Tractography, and Tract-Based Statistics results indicate that despite having received little attention in the literature, geometric distortion may have a profound impact on both tractography and diffusion metrics, specifically FA, which appears to be substantially affected throughout the imaging volume.

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