In vivo generalized diffusion tensor imaging (GDTI) using higher‐order tensors (HOT)

Generalized diffusion tensor imaging (GDTI) using higher‐order tensor (HOT) statistics generalizes the technique of diffusion tensor imaging by including the effect of nongaussian diffusion on the signal of MRI. In GDTI‐HOT, the effect of nongaussian diffusion is characterized by higher‐order tensor statistics (i.e., the cumulant tensors or the moment tensors), such as the covariance matrix (the second‐order cumulant tensor), the skewness tensor (the third‐order cumulant tensor), and the kurtosis tensor (the fourth‐order cumulant tensor). Previously, Monte Carlo simulations have been applied to verify the validity of this technique in reconstructing complicated fiber structures. However, no in vivo implementation of GDTI‐HOT has been reported. The primary goal of this study is to establish GDTI‐HOT as a feasible in vivo technique for imaging nongaussian diffusion. We show that probability distribution function of the molecular diffusion process can be measured in vivo with GDTI‐HOT and be visualized with three‐dimensional glyphs. By comparing GDTI‐HOT to fiber structures that are revealed by the highest resolution diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) possible in vivo, we show that the GDTI‐HOT can accurately predict multiple fiber orientations within one white matter voxel. Furthermore, through bootstrap analysis we demonstrate that in vivo measurement of HOT elements is reproducible, with a small statistical variation that is similar to that of diffusion tensor imaging. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

In vivo measurement of water diffusion in the human heart

Existing magnetic resonance methods for diffusion imaging, including echo planar, are ineffective in the beating heart due to motion-induced signal attenuation. To overcome this problem, we used a diffusion-weighted stimulated echo-echo planar magnetic resonance imaging sequence. The two lobes of the diffusion-sensitizing gradient were synchronized to the same point in successive cardiac cycles in order to fix the cardiac position and avoid bulk motion effects. The apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of the interventricular septum in 12 healthy subjects for diffusion gradients along the x-, y-, and z-directions were 1.40 ± 0.27, 1.48 ± 0.35, and 1.78 ± 0.27 × 10^?3 mm²/s. The ADCs of the interventricular septum in a second group of 15 healthy subjects for diffusion gradients along the short axis, horizontal and vertical long axes were 0.92 ± 0.15. 1.50 ± 0.15, and 1.10 ± 0.24 × mm²/s. Because the ADCs were less than the measured values for skeletal muscle and their standard deviations were low, it seems unlikely that bulk motion effects made the dominant contribution to the measured myocardial ADC for the interventricular septum, although motion and/or susceptibility artifacts frequently degraded measurements in the free wall of the left ventricle. Additional evidence that ADC was not predominantly determined by wall motion was obtained in a third group of patients with various cardiac abnormalities, in whom there was only a weak correlation between ADC and ejection fraction. Although further study is needed to better understand the factors contributing to the myocardial ADC, we hypothesize that the measured diffusional anisotropy in the septum might be explained largely on the basis of myofiber orientation.     

Super‐resolution for multislice diffusion tensor imaging

Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance images are often acquired with single shot multislice imaging sequences, because of their short scanning times and robustness to motion. To minimize noise and acquisition time, images are generally acquired with either anisotropic or isotropic low resolution voxels, which impedes subsequent posterior image processing and visualization. In this article, we propose a super‐resolution method for diffusion weighted imaging that combines anisotropic multislice images to enhance the spatial resolution of diffusion tensor data. Each diffusion weighted image is reconstructed from a set of arbitrarily oriented images with a low through‐plane resolution. The quality of the reconstructed diffusion weighted images was evaluated by diffusion tensor metrics and tractography. Experiments with simulated data, a hardware DTI phantom, as well as in vivo human brain data were conducted. Our results show a significant increase in spatial resolution of the diffusion tensor data while preserving high signal to noise ratio. Magn Reson Med, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Motion artifact reduction of diffusion‐weighted MRI of the liver: Use of velocity‐compensated diffusion gradients combined with tetrahedral gradients

Purpose:

To assess the effect of motion artifact reduction on the diffusion‐weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI‐MRI) of the liver, we compared velocity‐compensated DWI (VC‐DWI) and VC‐DWI combined with tetrahedral gradients (t‐VC‐DWI) to conventional DWI (c‐DWI) in the assessment of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of the liver.

Materials and Methods:

In 12 healthy volunteers, the liver was scanned with c‐DWI, VC‐DWI, and t‐VC‐DWI sequences. The signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) and ADC of the liver parenchyma were measured and compared among sequences.

Results:

The image quality was visually better for t‐VC‐DWI than for the others. The SNR for t‐VC‐DWI was significantly higher than that for VC‐DWI (P < 0.05) and comparable to that for c‐DWI. ADCs in both hepatic lobes were significantly lower for t‐VC‐DWI than for c‐DWI (P < 0.01). ADC in the left lobe was significantly lower for VC‐DWI than for c‐DWI (P < 0.01). Although ADC in the left lobe was significantly higher for c‐DWI (P < 0.01), no significant differences in ADCs were found between the right and left lobes for VC‐DWI and t‐VC‐DWI.

Conclusion:

The use of a t‐VC‐DWI sequence enables us to correct ADCs of the liver for artificial elevation due to cardiac motion, with preserved SNR. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:172–178. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐resolution diffusion tensor imaging of human patellar cartilage: Feasibility and preliminary findings

MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to analyze the microstructural properties of articular cartilage. Human patellar cartilage‐on‐bone samples were imaged at 9.4T using a diffusion‐weighted SE sequence (12 gradient directions, resolution = 39 × 78 × 1500 μm³). Voxel‐based maps of the mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy (FA), and eigenvectors were calculated. The mean diffusivity decreased from the surface (1.45 × 10^?3 mm²/s) to the tide mark (0.68 × 10^?3 mm²/s). The FA was low (0.04–0.28) and had local maxima near the surface and in the portion of the cartilage corresponding to the radial layer. The eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue showed a distinct zonal pattern, being oriented tangentially and radially in the upper and lower portions of the cartilage, respectively. The findings correspond to current scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data on the zonal architecture of cartilage. The eigenvector maps appear to reflect the alignment of the collagenous fibers in cartilage. In view of current efforts to develop and evaluate structure‐modifying therapeutic approaches in osteoarthritis (OA), DTI may offer a tool to assess the structural properties of cartilage. Magn Reson Med 53:993–998, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

In vivo diffusion tensor imaging of the human prostate.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of in vivo prostate diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in human subjects. We implemented an EPI-based diffusion-weighted (DW) sequence with seven-direction diffusion gradient sensitization, and acquired DT images from six subjects using cardiac gating with a phased-array prostate surface coil operating in a linear mode. We calculated two indices to quantify diffusion anisotropy. The direction of the eigenvector corresponding to the leading eigenvalue was displayed by means of a color-coding scheme. The average diffusion values of the prostate peripheral zone (PZ) and central gland (CG) were 1.95 +/- 0.08 x 10(-3) mm2 s and 1.53 +/- 0.34 x 10(-3) mm2 s, respectively. The average fractional anisotropy (FA) values for the PZ and CG were 0.46 +/- 0.04 and 0.40 +/- 0.08, respectively. The diffusion ellipsoid in prostate tissue was anisotropic and approximated a prolate model, as shown in the color maps of the anisotropy. Consistent with the tissue architecture, the prostate fiber orientations were predominantly in the superior-inferior (SI) direction for both the PZ and CG. This study shows the feasibility of in vivo DTI and establishes normative DT values for six subjects.     

Generalized diffusion tensor imaging and analytical relationships between diffusion tensor imaging and high angular resolution diffusion imaging.

A new method for mapping diffusivity profiles in tissue is presented. The Bloch-Torrey equation is modified to include a diffusion term with an arbitrary rank Cartesian tensor. This equation is solved to give the expression for the generalized Stejskal-Tanner formula quantifying diffusive attenuation in complicated geometries. This makes it possible to calculate the components of higher-rank tensors without using the computationally-difficult spherical harmonic transform. General theoretical relations between the diffusion tensor (DT) components measured by traditional (rank-2) DT imaging (DTI) and 3D distribution of diffusivities, as measured by high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) methods, are derived. Also, the spherical tensor components from HARDI are related to the rank-2 DT. The relationships between higher- and lower-rank Cartesian DTs are also presented. The inadequacy of the traditional rank-2 tensor model is demonstrated with simulations, and the method is applied to excised rat brain data collected in a spin-echo HARDI experiment.     

3.0TDCE-MRI及DTI在胶质瘤分级中的价值

目的：探讨动态增强磁共振成像(DCE-MRI)及扩散张量成像(DTI)在胶质瘤分级中的价值。方法31例胶质瘤患者行3.0T DCE-MRI 及 DTI 检查,测量定量参数包括：容量转移常数(Ktrans )、血管外细胞外间隙容积比(Ve )、速率常数(Kep )、对比剂浓度下峰面积(iAUC)及相对各向异性分数(rFA)。低级别、高级别胶质瘤组间 DCE-MRI、rFA 参数与微血管密度(MVD)、微血管结构(MVS)相关性评估采用 Spearman 相关性检验。结果胶质瘤分级与 MVD 计数和 MVS 改变呈正相关。14例低级别胶质瘤的 Ktrans 值、Kep 值、Ve 值、iAUC 值及 rFA 值分别为(0.02±0.01)min-1、1.82(0.18~8.54)min-1、0.05±0.03、2.47±1.66和0.55±0.22;17例高级别胶质瘤参数值分别为(0.11±0.02)min-1、1.31(0.12~7.58)min-1、0.28±0.10、10.84±6.46和0.28±0.08。各参数值组间除 Kep 外,其他参数差异均有统计学意义(P <0.05)。Ktrans 、Ve 、iAUC 值与 MVD 计数及 MVS 呈正相关(P <0.05),rFA 值与MVD 计数及 MVS 呈负相关(P <0.01)。结论DCE-MRI、DTI 定量参数对胶质瘤分级以及肿瘤新生血管增生、血管微结构改变都有重要的评估价值。     

Susceptibility tensor imaging

Heterogeneity of magnetic susceptibility within brain tissues creates unique contrast between gray and white matter in magnetic resonance phase images acquired by gradient echo sequences. Detailed understanding of this contrast may provide meaningful diagnostic information. In this communication, we report an observation of extensive anisotropic magnetic susceptibility in the white matter of the central nervous system. Furthermore, we describe a susceptibility tensor imaging technique to measure and quantify this phenomenon. This technique relies on the measurement of resonance frequency offset at different orientations with respect to the main magnetic field. We propose to characterize this orientation variation using an apparent susceptibility tensor. The susceptibility tensor can be decomposed into three eigenvalues (principal susceptibilities) and associated eigenvectors that are coordinate‐system independent. We show that the principal susceptibilities offer strong contrast between gray and white matter, whereas the eigenvectors provide orientation information of an underlying magnetic network. We believe that this network may further offer information of white matter fiber orientation. Magn Reson Med 63:1471–1477, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Visualization and analysis of white matter structural asymmetry in diffusion tensor MRI data.

This work presents a method that permits the characterization, quantification, and 3D visualization of white matter structural information contained within diffusion tensor MR imaging (DT-MRI) data. In this method, regions within the brain are defined as possessing linear, planar, or spherical diffusion. Visualization of this diffusion metric data is realized by generating streamtube and streamsurface models to represent regions of linear and planar diffusion. Quantification of differences in diffusion anisotropy between different regions of interest (ROIs) is then achieved by analyzing 2D barycentric histograms created from the complete distribution of diffusion metric values measured in each region. In four healthy volunteers, there was only a small degree of asymmetry (epsilon) in the number of linear, planar, or spherical diffusion voxels between the right and left hemispheres (epsilon approximately equal to +/- 2%). However, in a patient with a metastatic brain lesion there was marked asymmetry in both linear (epsilon approximately -10%) and planar (epsilon approximately equal to 5%) diffusion between comparable ipsilateral and contralateral regions, with a significant reduction in the number of linear diffusion voxels and an increase in the number of planar diffusion voxels in the tumor-bearing hemisphere. These results demonstrate the potential of this approach to characterize brain structure in both healthy and diseased subjects.     

Comparison of the quantitative first pass myocardial perfusion MRI with and without prospective slice tracking: Comparison between breath‐hold and free‐breathing condition

Physiologic motion of the heart is one of the major problems of myocardial blood flow quantification using first pass perfusion–MRI method. To overcome these problems, a perfusion pulse sequence with prospective slice tracking was developed. Cardiac motion was monitored by a navigator directly positioned at heart's basis to overcome no additional underlying model calculations connecting diaphragm and cardiac motion. Additional prescans were used before the perfusion measurement to detect slice displacements caused by remaining cardiac motion between navigator and the perfusion slice readout. The pulse sequence and subsequent quantification of myocardial blood flow was tested in healthy pigs with and without prospective slice tracking under both free‐breathing and breath‐hold conditions. To avoid influences by residual contrast agent concentration time courses were analyzed. Median myocardial blood flow values and interquartile ranges with prospective slice tracking under free‐breathing and in a breath‐hold were (1.04, interquartile range = 0.58 mL/min/g) and (1.20, interquartile range = 0.59 mL/min/g), respectively. This is in agreement with published positron emission tomography values. In measurements without prospective slice tracking (1.15, interquartile range = 1.58 mL/min/g), the interquartile range is significantly (P < 0.012) larger because of residual cardiac motion. In conclusion, prospective slice tracking reduces motion‐induced variations of myocardial blood flow under both during breath‐hold and under conditions of free‐breathing. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Mohr diagram representation of anisotropic diffusion tensor in MRI.

With current approaches, it is difficult to visually comprehend the complete information contained in a diffusion tensor (DT) measured from a microscopically heterogeneous biological tissue. Therefore, in this work the Mohr diagram is introduced to graphically display the key aspects of DTs and to interpret the underlying anisotropy, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Specifically, the mathematical basis for the construction of the Mohr diagram from the elements of DTs is described, the merits of the approach are illustrated with examples of DTs reported for various biological tissues, and the results are discussed in the context of relating the diffusion anisotropy to the tissue structures.     

Serial quantitative diffusion tensor MRI of the premature brain: development in newborns with and without injury

PURPOSE: To determine the change over time of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and relative anisotropy of cerebral water in a cohort of premature newborns serially studied near birth and again near term. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Newborns were classified as normal (N = 11), minimal white matter injury (N = 7), or moderate white matter injury (N = 5). RESULTS: ADC decreased significantly with age in all brain regions in newborns classified as normal and those with minimal white matter injury. ADC increased with age or failed to decline in widespread areas of white matter in newborns with moderate white matter injury. Anisotropy increased with age in all white matter regions in newborns classified as normal. Anisotropy did not increase in frontal white matter in those with minimal white matter injury, and in widespread white matter areas in those with moderate white matter injury. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that serial diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging scans of premature newborns can detect differences in white matter maturation in infants with and without white matter injury.     

In vivo diffusion tensor imaging of the human calf muscle

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo calf muscle fiber tracking in human subjects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An EPI-based diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) sequence with six-direction diffusion gradient sensitization was implemented, and DT images were acquired at 3 Tesla on five subjects using an extremity coil. The mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy (FA), and fiber angle (with respect to the magnet z-axis) were measured in different muscles, and fibers were tracked from several regions of interest (ROIs). RESULTS: The fiber orientations in the current DTI studies agree well with those determined in previous spectroscopic studies. The orientation angles ranged from 13.4 degrees in the lateral gastrocnemius to 48.5 degrees in the medial soleus. The diffusion ellipsoid in muscle tissue is anisotropic and approximates a prolate model, as shown by color maps of the anisotropy. Fibers were tracked from the different muscle regions, and the unipennate and bipennate structure of muscle fibers was visualized. CONCLUSION: The study clearly shows that in vivo fiber tracking of muscle fibers is feasible and could potentially be applied to study muscle structure function relationships.