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Validation of diffusion tensor MRI‐based muscle fiber tracking
Author(s) -
Damon Bruce M.,
Ding Zhaohua,
Anderson Adam W.,
Freyer Andrea S.,
Gore John C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.10198
Subject(s) - diffusion mri , in vivo , fiber , skeletal muscle , nuclear magnetic resonance , magnetic resonance imaging , fractional anisotropy , tracking (education) , biomedical engineering , nuclear medicine , anatomy , chemistry , medicine , physics , biology , radiology , psychology , pedagogy , microbiology and biotechnology , organic chemistry
Diffusion‐tensor (DT) MRI fiber tracking may potentially be used for in vivo structural analysis. The purpose of this study was to assess quantitatively the ability of a DT‐MRI fiber‐tracking algorithm to measure the fiber orientation (pennation) in skeletal muscle in vivo. In five adult Sprague‐Dawley rats, the pennation angle (θ) was measured in the rat lateral gastrocnemius with DT‐MRI (θ DT‐MRI ) and by direct anatomical inspection (DAI) (θ DAI ). The mean θ DT‐MRI was not significantly different from the mean θ DAI . In addition, the two methods were highly correlated ( r = 0.89) and the regression of θ DT‐MRI on θ DAI resulted in a slope not significantly different from 1 and an intercept not significantly different from zero. These data indicate that DT‐MRI‐based fiber tracking as implemented here is a valid tool for in vivo structural analysis of small‐animal skeletal muscle. Magn Reson Med 48:97–104, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.