Mapping Crossing Fibres of the Human Brain with Spherical Deconvolution: Towards an Atlas for Clinico-Anatomical Correlation Studies

¹Natbrainlab, Section of Brain Maturation, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, UK; ²Centre for NeuroImaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, UK
The development of MRI-derived quantitative measurements of fibre damage could have important applications for prognosis and treatment planning. In this work we have used the information from the Spherical Deconvolution approach to quantify the number of distinct fibre orientations in each voxel. Maps of the Number of Fibres Orientations (NuFO) were created from a central region of the cerebral hemispheres and compared with fractional anisotropy maps. We propose that these maps may be used to create an atlas for clinico-anatomical correlation studies in a number of conditions including, multiple sclerosis, brain tumours, vascular dementia and other stroke-related disorders.