Original Research

Tractography-based quantitation of diffusion tensor imaging parameters in white matter tracts of preterm newborns

  1. Savannah C. Partridge PhD1,4,
  2. Pratik Mukherjee MD, PhD1,
  3. Jeffrey I. Berman PhD1,
  4. Roland G. Henry PhD1,
  5. Steven P. Miller MD2,3,
  6. Ying Lu PhD1,
  7. Orit A. Glenn MD1,
  8. Donna M. Ferriero MD2,3,
  9. A. James Barkovich MD1,2,3,
  10. Daniel B. Vigneron PhD1,*

Article first published online: 13 SEP 2005

DOI: 10.1002/jmri.20410

Issue

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Volume 22, Issue 4, pages 467–474, October 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Partridge, S. C., Mukherjee, P., Berman, J. I., Henry, R. G., Miller, S. P., Lu, Y., Glenn, O. A., Ferriero, D. M., Barkovich, A. J. and Vigneron, D. B. (2005), Tractography-based quantitation of diffusion tensor imaging parameters in white matter tracts of preterm newborns. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 22: 467–474. doi: 10.1002/jmri.20410

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Radiology, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

  2. 2

    Department of Neurology, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

  3. 3

    Department of Pediatrics, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

  4. 4

    Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

*Department of Radiology, University of California–San Francisco, Box 2512, Mission Bay Campus, QB3 Bld, Rm 102F, San Francisco, CA 94143-2512

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 26 SEP 2005
  2. Article first published online: 13 SEP 2005
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 15 JUN 2005
  4. Manuscript Received: 25 OCT 2004

Funded by

  • National Institutes of Health. Grant Numbers: RO1 NS40117, R21 NS40382, P50 NS35902

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Keywords:

  • diffusion tensor imaging;
  • tractography;
  • fiber-tracking;
  • white matter development;
  • premature newborns

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the feasibility of performing diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) to map and quantify the pyramidal white matter tracts of premature newborns.

Materials and Methods

Fourteen diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) examinations of nine premature newborns were evaluated. DTT was performed to segment bilateral pyramidal tracts, using a fiber-tracking algorithm originating in the cerebral peduncle (CP) and filtering through the posterior limb of the internal capsule (PLIC) and precentral gyrus (PCG). Voxels containing the resulting tracts were then used for quantitation of DTI parameters along the tract. The DTT-based tract measurements were compared with standard manually placed region-of-interest (ROI) measurements at four locations along the pyramidal tract, and the reproducibility of each technique was evaluated.

Results

DTT demonstrated improved reproducibility over manual ROI measurement for pyramidal tract quantitation and was less subject to intra-operator variability (P < 0.0001, Fisher test for equal variance). In general, the anatomic locations and measurements obtained with the two techniques were in good agreement, although some systematic differences were identified in the PLIC and CP.

Conclusion

Fiber DTT is feasible in premature newborns, provides more reproducible tract measurements than manual ROI methods, and allows quantitation along the entire tract for more detailed DTI assessment of white matter maturation. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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