Abstract #3389

Distortion dominates fibre tracking of the optic chiasm – an evaluation of ultra-high angular resolution compared to low-distortion diffusion MRI on a Compact 3T

Thomas Welton¹, Matthew Lyon¹, Jerome J Maller^1,2, Myung-Ho In³, Ek-Tsoon Tan³, Matt A Bernstein⁴, Erin M Gray⁴, Yunhong Shu⁴, John Huston⁴, and Stuart M Grieve^1,5

¹Sydney Translational Imaging Laboratory, Heart Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, ²GE Healthcare, Richmond, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, ³GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, United States, ⁴Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, United States, ⁵Department of Radiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia

We evaluated the impact of angular resolution and spatial distortion on crossing-fibre tracking accuracy at the optic chiasm using diffusion MRI data from a Compact 3T scanner with high-performance gradients. Contralateral tracking via the chiasm was quantified in acquisitions optimised for q-space resolution or low distortion and compared to the known true rate of decussation. We found that, for chiasmal tracking, minimising the effects of geometric distortion may provide better value than maximising spatial or angular resolution beyond 140 directions. An ideal future diffusion MRI protocol will combine these features for more optimal tracking performance.

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