Adolfo Cotter,MD

MRI Difussion Tensor Imaging has been used to evaluate for structural brain connectivity lately, a technique that has been traditionally done using pathological methods. DTI is based on water diffusion along the brain fiber tracts. The complexity of the brain fibers is a challenge. In a recent study by Wang YV. et al ( A comprehensive reliability assessment of quantitative diffusion tensor tractography, NeuroImage 2012, 60: 1127-1138); It shows that DTI tractography should be a reliable method in cases where the track size is not too small and in brain regions where the water diffusion directionality is not too low. They showed that a way of improving the reliability and accuracy is by increasing the number of gradient directions and by scan repetition. They based these conclusions by retesting and evaluating for inter and intra reliability.

It would be interesting, in my opinion, to compare this method with known pathological techniques. 

Adolfo Cotter, MD

Apr 08/2012