Title :
Diffusion kurtosis imaging with tract-based spatial statistics reveals white matter alterations in preschool children
Author :
Xianjun Li ; Jie Gao ; Xin Hou ; Chan, K.C. ; Ding, Qing-An ; Qinli Sun ; Mingxi Wan ; Wu, E.X. ; Jian Yang
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Radiol., Xi´an Jiaotong Univ., Xi´an, China
fDate :
Aug. 28 2012-Sept. 1 2012
Abstract :
Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI), an extension of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), provides a practical method to describe non-Gaussian water diffusion in neural tissues. The sensitivity of DKI to detect the subtle changes in several chosen brain structures has been studied. However, intuitive and holistic methods to validate the merits of DKI remain to be explored. In this paper, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used to demonstrate white matter alterations in both DKI and DTI parameters in preschool children (1-6 years; n=10). Correlation analysis was also performed in multiple regions of interest (ROIs). Fractional anisotropy, mean kurtosis, axial kurtosis and radial kurtosis increased with age, while mean diffusivity and radial diffusivity decreased significantly with age. Fractional anisotropy of kurtosis and axial diffusivity were found to be less sensitive to the changes with age. These preliminary findings indicated that TBSS could be used to detect subtle changes of DKI parameters on the white matter tract. Kurtosis parameters, except fractional anisotropy of kurtosis, demonstrated higher sensitivity than DTI parameters. TBSS may be a convenient method to yield higher sensitivity of DKI.
Keywords :
biodiffusion; biological tissues; biomedical MRI; brain; cellular biophysics; neurophysiology; statistical analysis; DKI parameters; DTI parameters; axial kurtosis; brain structures; correlation analysis; diffusion kurtosis imaging; diffusion tensor imaging; fractional anisotropy; mean diffusivity; mean kurtosis; neural tissues; nonGaussian water diffusion; preschool children; radial diffusivity; radial kurtosis; regions of interest; tract-based spatial statistics; white matter alterations; Anisotropic magnetoresistance; Correlation; Diffusion tensor imaging; Educational institutions; Pediatrics; Sensitivity; Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI); preschool children; tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS); white matter; Algorithms; Brain; Child; Child, Preschool; Data Interpretation, Statistical; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Female; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Infant; Male; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity;
Conference_Titel :
Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2012 Annual International Conference of the IEEE
Conference_Location :
San Diego, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-4119-8
Electronic_ISBN :
1557-170X
DOI :
10.1109/EMBC.2012.6346422