Jeffrey I. Berman1, Sonia L. Bonifacio2,
Roland G. Henry1, Donna M. Ferriero2,3, Hannah C. Glass2,
A James Barkovich1, Duan Xu1
1Radiology and Biomedical Imaging,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; 2Pediatrics,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States; 3Neurology,
University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
High
angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) was used to examine white matter
microstructre in 3 and 6 month old infants with a history of birth
asphyxia. Residual-bootstrap
probabilistic q-ball tractography was used to delineate the motor pathway. As
in adults, the motor tract intersects other white matter tracts in the
centrum semiovale and q-ball fiber tractography could traverse these
regions. Diffusion parameters were
measured in the 3D region defined by fiber tractography. This study
demonstrates the feasibility of using in-vivo HARDI to discriminate complex
white matter architecture in infants within a reasonable exam time.