What does tractography measure?

In neuroscience, tractography is a 3D modeling technique used to visually represent nerve tracts using data collected by diffusion MRI. It uses special techniques of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computer-based diffusion MRI. The results are presented in two- and three-dimensional images called tractograms.

What is DTI tractography?

Diffusion tensor imaging tractography, or DTI tractography, is an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) technique that measures the rate of water diffusion between cells to understand and create a map of the body’s internal structures; it is most commonly used to provide imaging of the brain.

Does DTI have good temporal resolution?

with DTI, whereas functional connectivity can be captured by fMRI, providing good spatial resolution but poor temporal resolution, or by EEG, which gives a good temporal resolution but a poor spatial resolution.

What does DTI measure in brain?

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a technique that detects how water travels along the white matter tracts in the brain (Fig. 2). White-matter tracts connect different parts of the brain and must be protected during surgery.

What is white matter tractography?

WHITE MATTER TRACTOGRAPHY (WMT) White Matter Tractography techniques estimate the connectivity patterns between different brain regions from the continuity in the local estimates of fiber direction at each voxel. To date, a large number of WMT algorithms have been proposed.

What is diffusion tractography?

Diffusion tractography uses non-invasive brain imaging data to trace fibre bundles in the human brain in vivo. This raises immediate possibilities for clinical application but responsible use of this approach requires careful consideration of the scope and limitations of the technique.

Is DTI functional or structural?

Thus, DTI provides information about structural connectivity, as compared to functional connectivity data from rsFMRI. Perhaps most importantly, DTI can illustrate to the surgeon the relationship of a tumor to underlying white matter tracts.

What can DTI detect?

DTI with fiber tractography can reveal the integrity of the spinal cord and provide information about pathophysiology. Fibers in the spinal cord are known to be displaced in slow-growing processes such as tumors, whereas more-acute changes such as trauma disrupt fiber integrity.

What is Functional MRI of the brain?

Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) measures brain activity by detecting changes associated with blood flow. This technique relies on the fact that cerebral blood flow and neuronal activation are coupled.