Reproducibility of Quantification for Diffusion Values in Lumbar Spinal Nerves Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Toshinori Sakai¹, ², Ryo Miyagi¹, Yasunari Fujinaga¹, Eiko Yamabe¹, Nitin N. Bhatia², Hiroshi Yoshioka¹

We analyzed the fractional anisotropy (FA) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values at all consecutive points along the L4, L5 and S1 nerves using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and fiber tracking (FT). Our study demonstrated that FA values between ROI and FT methods were inconsistent (r=0.528), while ADC values had a relatively good consistency (r=0.822) (n=754/each method). Both FA and ADC values measured with FT demonstrated significant better reproducibility in both inter- and intra-rater analyses. For measurements of FA and ADC values, FT would be warranted in the future clinical application.