Abstract #3535

Evaluation of DTI Tractography at Long and Short Diffusion Times in ex Vivo and in Vivo Rhesus Macaques

Swati Rane^1,2, Timothy Q. Duong³

¹Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA; ²Yerkes Imaging Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; ³Research Imaging Center, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

This study investigated DTI tractography using long diffusion time (t_diff) to improve tracking of smaller fibers in fixed and in vivo rhesus monkey brains. By comparison with short diffusion time, DTI at long t_diff increased fractional anisotropy and tracked longer fiber connections in regions of low diffusion anisotropy at the same statistical thresholds. These results together offer encouraging data that DTI at long diffusion time could improve the ability of DTI tractography to trace smaller fibers.