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Impact of MR Acquisition Parameters on DTI Scalar Indexes: A Tractography Based Approach.

ABSTRACT: Acquisition parameters play a crucial role in Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), as they have a major impact on the values of scalar measures such as Fractional Anisotropy (FA) or Mean Diffusivity (MD) that are usually the focus of clinical studies based on white matter analysis. This paper presents an analysis on the impact of the variation of several acquisition parameters on these scalar measures with a novel double focus. First, a tractography-based approach is employed, motivated by the significant number of clinical studies that are carried out using this technique. Second, the consequences of simultaneous changes in multiple parameters are analyzed: number of gradient directions, b-value and voxel resolution. Results indicate that the FA is most affected by changes in the number of gradients and voxel resolution, while MD is specially influenced by variations in the b-value. Even if the choice of a tractography algorithm has an effect on the numerical values of the final scalar measures, the evolution of these measures when acquisition parameters are modified is parallel.

SUBMITTER: Barrio-Arranz G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4601730 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Impact of MR Acquisition Parameters on DTI Scalar Indexes: A Tractography Based Approach.

Barrio-Arranz Gonzalo G de Luis-García Rodrigo R Tristán-Vega Antonio A Martín-Fernández Marcos M Aja-Fernández Santiago S

PloS one 20151012 10

Acquisition parameters play a crucial role in Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), as they have a major impact on the values of scalar measures such as Fractional Anisotropy (FA) or Mean Diffusivity (MD) that are usually the focus of clinical studies based on white matter analysis. This paper presents an analysis on the impact of the variation of several acquisition parameters on these scalar measures with a novel double focus. First, a tractography-based approach is employed, motivated by the signif ...[more]

PMID: 26457415

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Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate brai structural connectivity in children with traumatic injury (TI) following a motor vehicle accident using graph theory analysis of DTI tractography data.MethodsDTI scans were acquired on a 3 T Philips scanner from children aged 8-15 years approximately 2 months post-injury. The TI group consisted of children with traumatic brain injury (TBI; n = 44) or extracranial injury (EI; n = 23). Healthy control children (n = 36) were included as an age-matched comparison group. A graph theory approach was applied to DTI tractography data to investigate injury-related differences in connectivity network characteristics. Group differences in structural connectivity evidenced by graph metrics including efficiency, strength, and modularity were assessed using the multi-threshold permutation correction (MTPC) and network-based statistic (NBS) methods.ResultsAt the global network level, global efficiency and mean network strength were lower, and modularity was higher, in the TBI than in the control group. Similarly, strength was lower and modularity higher when comparing the EI to the control group. At the vertex level, nodal efficiency, vertex strength, and average shortest path length were different between all pairwise comparisons of the three groups. Both nodal efficiency and vertex strength were higher in the control than in the EI group, which in turn were higher than in the TBI group. The opposite between-group relationships were seen with path length. These between-group differences were distributed throughout the brain, in both hemispheres. NBS analysis resulted in a cluster of 22 regions and 21 edges with significantly lower connectivity in the TBI group compared to controls. This cluster predominantly involves the frontal lobe and subcortical gray matter structures in both hemispheres.ConclusionsGraph theory analysis of DTI tractography showed diffuse differences in structural brain network connectivity in children 2 months post-TI. Network differences were consistent with lower network integration and higher segregation in the injured groups compared to healthy controls. Findings suggest that inclusion of trauma-exposed comparison groups in studies of TBI outcome is warranted to better characterize the indirect effect of stress on brain networks.

Project description:PurposeTo investigate and mitigate the influence of physiological and acquisition-related parameters on myocardial blood flow (MBF) measurements obtained with myocardial Arterial Spin Labeling (myoASL).MethodsA Flow-sensitive Alternating Inversion Recovery (FAIR) myoASL sequence with bSSFP and spoiled GRE (spGRE) readout is investigated for MBF quantification. Bloch-equation simulations and phantom experiments were performed to evaluate how variations in acquisition flip angle (FA), acquisition matrix size (AMS), heart rate (HR) and blood T1$$ {\mathrm{T}}_1 $$ relaxation time ( T1,B$$ {\mathrm{T}}_{1,B} $$ ) affect quantification of myoASL-MBF. In vivo myoASL-images were acquired in nine healthy subjects. A corrected MBF quantification approach was proposed based on subject-specific T1,B$$ {\mathrm{T}}_{1,B} $$ values and, for spGRE imaging, subtracting an additional saturation-prepared baseline from the original baseline signal.ResultsSimulated and phantom experiments showed a strong dependence on AMS and FA ( R2$$ {R}^2 $$ >0.73), which was eliminated in simulations and alleviated in phantom experiments using the proposed saturation-baseline correction in spGRE. Only a very mild HR dependence ( R2$$ {R}^2 $$ >0.59) was observed which was reduced when calculating MBF with individual T1,B$$ {\mathrm{T}}_{1,B} $$ . For corrected spGRE, in vivo mean global spGRE-MBF ranged from 0.54 to 2.59 mL/g/min and was in agreement with previously reported values. Compared to uncorrected spGRE, the intra-subject variability within a measurement (0.60 mL/g/min), between measurements (0.45 mL/g/min), as well as the inter-subject variability (1.29 mL/g/min) were improved by up to 40% and were comparable with conventional bSSFP.ConclusionOur results show that physiological and acquisition-related factors can lead to spurious changes in myoASL-MBF if not accounted for. Using individual T1,B$$ {\mathrm{T}}_{1,B} $$ and a saturation-baseline can reduce these variations in spGRE and improve reproducibility of FAIR-myoASL against acquisition parameters.

Dataset Information

Impact of MR Acquisition Parameters on DTI Scalar Indexes: A Tractography Based Approach.

Publications

Impact of MR Acquisition Parameters on DTI Scalar Indexes: A Tractography Based Approach.

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