Recent Developments in Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Brain

Mansi Bharat Parekh; Abhijit Achyut Gurjarpadhye; Martin A C Manoukian; Arita Dubnika; Jayakumar Rajadas; Mohammed Inayathullah

doi:10.17140/roj-1-101

Recent Developments in Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Brain

Radiol Open J. 2015;1(1):1-12. doi: 10.17140/roj-1-101. Epub 2015 Dec 11.

Authors

Mansi Bharat Parekh¹, Abhijit Achyut Gurjarpadhye², Martin A C Manoukian³, Arita Dubnika⁴, Jayakumar Rajadas⁵, Mohammed Inayathullah⁶

Affiliations

¹ Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
² Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; Department of Dermatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
³ Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; University of California Davis School of Medicine, Sacramento, California, USA.
⁴ Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; Riga Technical University, Faculty of Materials Science and Applied Chemistry, Institute of General Chemical Engineering, Rudolfs Cimdins Riga Biomaterials Innovations and Development Centre, Riga, Latvia.
⁵ Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.
⁶ Biomaterials and Advanced Drug Delivery Laboratory, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA; Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA; Cardiovascular Pharmacology, Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has come to be known as a unique radiological imaging modality because of its ability to perform tomographic imaging of body without the use of any harmful ionizing radiation. The radiologists use MRI to gain insight into the anatomy of organs, including the brain, while biomedical researchers explore the modality to gain better understanding of the brain structure and function. However, due to limited resolution and contrast, the conventional MRI fails to show the brain microstructure. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) harnesses the power of conventional MRI to deduce the diffusion dynamics of water molecules within the tissue and indirectly create a three-dimensional sketch of the brain anatomy. DTI enables visualization of brain tissue microstructure, which is extremely helpful in understanding various neuropathologies and neurodegenerative disorders. In this review, we briefly discuss the background and operating principles of DTI, followed by current trends in DTI applications for biomedical and clinical investigation of various brain diseases and disorders.

Keywords: Alzheimers; Brain Imaging; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Diffusion Tensor Tractography; Diffusion Weighted Imaging; Multiple Sclerosis; TBI.

Abstract

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