Premium
Influence of white matter fiber orientation on R2* revealed by MRI segmentation
Author(s) -
de Pasquale Francesco,
Cherubini Andrea,
Péran Patrice,
Caltagirone Carlo,
Sabatini Umberto
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.23801
Subject(s) - white matter , orientation (vector space) , segmentation , fiber , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , artificial intelligence , nuclear magnetic resonance , radiology , computer science , materials science , physics , mathematics , composite material , geometry
Purpose: To investigate white matter heterogeneity using a multichannel segmentation of a large sample of structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. Materials and Methods: A sample of 50 subjects was segmented using channels comprising exclusively structural (longitudinal and transverse relaxation times T1 and T2 and transverse relaxation rate R2*) and diffusion‐based MRI indices (mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy). These data were analyzed using a data driven approach in which no prior information was used. Results: The analysis revealed the splitting of white matter into two subclasses in which the longitudinal fasciculi were distinguished from inferior/superior ones. The distribution of the adopted indices in the obtained clusters showed that R2* was mainly responsible for this splitting. Conclusion: This result supports the observation, previously hypothesized in the literature, that R2* is influenced by the fiber orientation. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:85–91. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.