DTI Fiber Tract-Oriented Quantitative and Visual Analysis of White Matter Integrity

A new fiber tract-oriented quantitative and visual analysis scheme using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is developed to study the regional micro structural white matter changes along major fiber bundles which may not be effectively revealed by existing methods due to the curved spatial nature of neuronal paths. Our technique is based on DTI tractography and geodesic path mapping, which establishes correspondences to allow cross-subject evaluation of diffusion properties by parameterizing the fiber pathways as a function of geodesic distance. A novel isonodes visualization scheme is proposed to render regional statistical features along the fiber pathways. Assessment of the technique reveals specific anatomical locations along the genu of the corpus callosum paths with significant diffusion property changes in the amnestic mild cognitive impairment subjects. The experimental results show that this approach is promising and may provide a sensitive technique to study the integrity of neuronal connectivity in human brain.