Fiber tracking in the white matter

Brain Tractography using Diffusion Tensor Imaging is defined as the study of the path of the white matter fibres. It´s based on the fact that the diffusion of water molecules in the white matter depends on the orientation of the fibres. This emerging technique is used in clinic to improve diagnosis, guide therapy and provide prognostic indication. Important Applications of DTI is the Presurgical Planning which allows to localize with accuracy of gray matter and white matter areas at risk of being resected during lesion removal. In our country, this technique has been introduced recently and in a very limited number of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sites. The sequences of Multi Direction Diffusion weighted are available as standard in most MR systems while the post-processing software is optional, and require expensive and powerful workstation. The First objective of this work is to propose an algorithm which allow fibre tracking starting from Diffusion Weighted Images, through Diffusion Tensor Data calculation till the reconstruction and extraction of white matter fibres. The second objective is related to the validation of the used algorithm in clinical applications.