Premium
Diffusion Anisotropy Color‐Coded Map of Cerebral White Matter: Quantitative Comparison between Orthogonal Anisotropic Diffusion‐Weighted Imaging and Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Author(s) -
Uwano Ikuko,
Sasaki Makoto,
Kudo Kohsuke,
Fujiwara Shunrou,
Yamaguchi Mao,
Saito Ayumi,
Ogasawara Kuniaki,
Ogawa Akira
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2011.00702.x
Subject(s) - diffusion mri , white matter , fractional anisotropy , corpus callosum , anisotropy , medicine , nuclear magnetic resonance , cingulum (brain) , diffusion , nuclear medicine , physics , magnetic resonance imaging , optics , radiology , pathology , thermodynamics
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Diffusion anisotropy color‐coded maps of cerebral white matter can be generated from orthogonal anisotropic diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) using the three‐dimensional anisotropy contrast (3DAC) technique, but its precision has not been fully validated. Hence, we attempted to determine whether 3DAC is comparable to a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) color map. METHODS We examined 15 healthy individuals and generated color‐coded maps using 3DAC as well as using primary eigenvector ( e1 ) and fractional anisotropy (FA) from identical DTI datasets. The difference in the direction of the 3DAC vector from e1 (θ) in cerebral white matter was evaluated. Correlations between θ and FA or obliqueness of e1 were also examined. RESULTS In cerebral white matter, θ had significantly negative and positive correlations with FA values and e1 obliqueness, respectively. Among white matter tracts, the pyramidal tract, cingulum, and corpus callosum, which had significantly high FA and/or low obliqueness, exhibited similar coloration and significantly smaller θ (4.4°± 1.6°, 9.3°± 2.8°, and 11.2°± 1.1°, respectively) than the entire white matter (13.9°± 1.1°). CONCLUSIONS The 3DAC could visualize directional information of white matter tracts as precisely DTI‐based color maps did, particularly when FA was large and/or e1 directions were orthogonal.