Ann Sunah Choe1,2, Yurui Gao1,3,
Iwona Stepniewska4, Xia Li5, Zhaohua Ding5,
Adam W. Anderson1,3
1Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2Vanderbilt University
Institute of Imaging Science,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 3Vanderbilt
University Institute of Imaging Science , Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
TN, United States; 4Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt
University, Nashville, TN, United States; 5Vanderbilt University
Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United
States
Study
of anatomical connections often involves tracing fiber bundles to and from
cortical areas of interest. The fiber tracking involved in such studies
presents some unique problems. One of the challenges is the low diffusion
anisotropy in gray matter, and the high directional uncertainty this causes.
This problem is often circumvented by placing seed regions within the
subcortical white matter, below the target regions of cortex. This approach risks
tracking erroneous fibers due to limited spatial resolution and the complex
interface between white and gray matter. In this abstract, the risk of such
approaches is demonstrated by comparing DTI fiber pathways to histological
sections of the corresponding regions.
Keywords