scholarly journals In utero diffusion tensor imaging of the fetal brain: a reproducibility study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Jakab ◽  
Ruth O`Gorman Tuura ◽  
Christian Kellenberger ◽  
Ianina Scheer

AbstractOur purpose was to evaluate the within-subject reproducibility of in utero diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics and the visibility of major white matter structures.Images for 30 fetuses (20-33. postmenstrual weeks, normal neurodevelopment: 6 cases, cerebral pathology: 24 cases) were acquired on 1.5T or 3.0T MRI. DTI with 15 diffusion-weighting directions was repeated three times for each case, TR/TE: 2200/63 ms, voxel size: 1*1 mm, slice thickness: 3-5 mm, b-factor: 700 s/mm2. Reproducibility was evaluated from structure detectability, variability of DTI measures using the coefficient of variation (CV), image correlation and structural similarity across repeated scans for six selected structures. The effect of age, scanner type, presence of pathology was determined using Wilcoxon rank sum test.White matter structures were detectable in the following percentage of fetuses in at least two of the three repeated scans: corpus callosum genu 76%, splenium 64%, internal capsule, posterior limb 60%, brainstem fibers 40% and temporooccipital association pathways 60%. The mean CV of DTI metrics ranged between 3% and 14.6% and we measured higher reproducibility in fetuses with normal brain development. Head motion was negatively correlated with reproducibility, this effect was partially ameliorated by motion-correction algorithm using image registration. Structures on 3.0 T had higher variability both with- and without motion correction.Fetal DTI is reproducible for projection and commissural bundles during mid-gestation, however, in 16-30% of the cases, data were corrupted by artifacts, resulting in impaired detection of white matter structures. To achieve robust results for the quantitative analysis of diffusivity and anisotropy values, fetal-specific image processing is recommended and repeated DTI is needed to ensure the detectability of fiber pathways.AbbreviationsADaxial diffusivity;CCAcorpus callosum agenesis;CVcoefficient of variation,DTIdiffusion tensor imaging;FAfractional anisotropy;GWgestational week;MDmean diffusivity;RDradial diffusivity;ROIregion of interest;SSIMstructural similarity index

Neurosurgery ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1586-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Lenfeldt ◽  
Anne Larsson ◽  
Lars Nyberg ◽  
Richard Birgander ◽  
Anders Eklund ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND: Idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is associated with white matter lesions, but the extent and severity of the lesions do not cohere with symptoms or improvement after shunting, implying the presence of further, yet undisclosed, injuries to white matter in INPH. OBJECTIVE: To apply diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to explore white matter lesions in patients with INPH before and after drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). METHODS: Eighteen patients and 10 controls were included. DTI was performed in a 1.5T MRI scanner before and after 3-day drainage of 400 mL of CSF. Regions of interest included corpus callosum, capsula interna, frontal and lateral periventricular white matter, and centrum semiovale. White matter integrity was quantified by assessing fractional anisotropies (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC), comparing them between patients and controls and between patients before and after drainage. The significance level corresponded to .05 (Bonferroni corrected). RESULTS: Decreased FA in patients was found in 3 regions (P < .002, P < .001, and P < .001) in anterior frontal white matter, whereas elevated ADC was found in genu corpus callosum (P < .001) and areas of centrum semiovale associated with the precentral gyri (P < .002). Diffusion patterns in these areas did not change after drainage. CONCLUSION: DTI reveals subtle injuries—interpreted as axonal loss and gliosis—to anterior frontal white matter where high-order motor systems between frontal cortex and basal ganglia travel, further supporting the notion that motor symptoms in INPH are caused by a chronic ischemia to the neuronal systems involved in the planning processes of movements.


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (14) ◽  
pp. 1904-1907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Scheel ◽  
Carsten Finke ◽  
Timm Oberwahrenbrock ◽  
Alina Freing ◽  
Luisa-Maria Pech ◽  
...  

We investigated the association of retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFL) with white matter damage assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Forty-four MS patients and 30 healthy subjects underwent optical coherence tomography. DTI was analysed with a voxel-based whole brain and region-based analysis of optic radiation, corpus callosum and further white matter. Correlations between RNFL, fractional anisotropy (FA) and other DTI-based parameters were assessed in patients and controls. RNFL correlated with optic radiation FA, but also with corpus callosum and remaining white matter FA. Our findings demonstrate that RNFL changes indicate white matter damage exceeding the visual pathway.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. e59108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Lagopoulos ◽  
Daniel F. Hermens ◽  
Sean N. Hatton ◽  
Juliette Tobias-Webb ◽  
Kristi Griffiths ◽  
...  

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 877-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Cheung ◽  
C. Cheung ◽  
G. M. McAlonan ◽  
Y. Deng ◽  
J. G. Wong ◽  
...  

BackgroundDiffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to investigate cerebral structural connectivity in never-medicated individuals with first-episode schizophrenia.MethodSubjects with first-episode schizophrenia according to DSM-IV-R who had never been exposed to antipsychotic medication (n=25) and healthy controls (n=26) were recruited. Groups were matched for age, gender, best parental socio-economic status and ethnicity. All subjects underwent DTI and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Voxel-based analysis was performed to investigate brain regions where fractional anisotropy (FA) values differed significantly between groups. A confirmatory region-of-interest (ROI) analysis of FA scores was performed in which regions were placed blind to group membership.ResultsIn patients, FA values significantly lower than those in healthy controls were located in the left fronto-occipital fasciculus, left inferior longitudinal fasciculus, white matter adjacent to right precuneus, splenium of corpus callosum, right posterior limb of internal capsule, white matter adjacent to right substantia nigra, and left cerebral peduncle. ROI analysis of the corpus callosum confirmed that the patient group had significantly lower mean FA values than the controls in the splenium but not in the genu. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for independent ROI measurements was 0.90 (genu) and 0.90 (splenium). There were no regions where FA values were significantly higher in the patients than in the healthy controls.ConclusionsWidespread structural dysconnectivity, including the subcortical region, is already present in neuroleptic-naive patients in their first episode of illness.


Stroke ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 3816-3820 ◽  
Author(s):  
Refeeque A. Bhadelia ◽  
Lori Lyn Price ◽  
Kurtis L. Tedesco ◽  
Tammy Scott ◽  
Wei Qiao Qiu ◽  
...  

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