Harini Eavani1,2, Luke Bloy2,3,
John Herrington1, Timothy L. Roberts4, Robert T.
Schultz1, Ragini Verma2
1Center for Autism
Research, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United
States; 2Section of Biomedical Image Analysis, Department of
Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States; 3Department
of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania; 4Lurie Family
Foundations MEG Imaging Center
High Angular Resolution Diffusion Imaging(HARDI) is a new diffusion imaging protocol that can model complex white-matter better than Diffusion Tensor Imaging(DTI), which cannot delineate fiber-tracts across regions with fiber-crossings. In this study we establish the superiority of HARDI over DTI in identifying tracts by tracking the ArcuateFasciculus(AF) in a clinical population of children(8-18years) with autism. Results show that the AF is tracked significantly better in HARDI than DTI in all subjects and is closer to its anatomical definition. This establishes the feasibility of HARDI acquisition in clinical populations and can provide novel insight into the disease with subsequent tract-based analysis.