Abstract #0776

Tractography with Physiology Rendering of Human Brain Using Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging

Yong Wang¹, Peng Sun¹, Fang-Chang Yeh², Robert Naismith³,⁴, Anne H. Cross³,⁴, Sheng-Kwei Song¹,⁴

¹Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States; ²Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; ³Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States; ⁴Hope Center of Neurological disorders, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, MO, United States

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been successfully used to quantify directional diffusivities of coherent white matter tracts and perform tractography. However, DTI cannot model crossing fibers and subvoxel partial volume effect due to increased cellularity and extra-cellular space. Diffusion basis spectrum imaging (DBSI) has recently been proposed to overcome DTI limitations. Preliminary phantom and animal studies have suggested that DBSI not only resolved crossing fibers, but also computed directional diffusivities of each crossing fiber and quantified subvoxel partial volume effect. In this study, we reported the first application of DBSI to normal human brain and demonstrated DBSI utilities mapping white matter connectivity and quantifying multiple diffusion components along fiber tracts.