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Abstract #1569

White Matter Model for Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging

Els Fieremans1, Jens H. Jensen1, Ali Tabesh1, Caixia Hu1,2, Joseph A. Helpern1,2

1Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, United States; 2Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, Nathan S. Kline Institute, Orangeburg, NY, United States


We develop an idealized two-compartment diffusion model of white matter suitable for analysis with diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI). The standard DKI metrics are used to derive the extracellular and axonal bare diffusion coefficients, the axonal water fraction (AWF), and tortuosity of the extra-axonal geometry, both providing information related to axonal and myelin density. Values for these parameters obtained for a healthy volunteer agree well with those of prior studies. Since a DKI dataset is acquired within a few minutes, this approach may allow for the clinical assessment of myelin associated neuropathologies, such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimers disease.

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