This technology is differentiated by its ability to quantify connection strength in anatomically meaningful volume units, rather than relying on scalar indices like fractional anisotropy that are confounded by interstitial fluid, fiber crossings, or tract packing density. Its directionally sensitive metric maintains stability regardless of streamline count, reduces streamline surfing artifacts, and improves termination accuracy at the cortical boundary. By providing a direct, robust measure of anisotropic water diffusion within axons, it enables more reliable connectivity assessment, detailed cortical surface reconstructions, and better-informed clinical decision-making.
Description
The invention relates to a novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) based diffusion imaging method that can quantify the directional diffusion a compartmental diffusion in brain axon tracts and can do so in core tracts and through crossings unlike previous techniques. This innovations provides for dramatically improved fiber tracking and can be applied in basic research assessment of brain systems, clinical research in neurosurgical planning, neurosurgical guidance, assessment of congenial brain disorders, and traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Applications
Tumor surgery planning
TBI diagnosis monitoring
Neurodegenerative disease assessment
Pharmaceutical efficacy trials
Brain connectivity mapping
Advantages
Direct volumetric quantification of axonal connectivity strength
Robust to fiber crossings and isotropic diffusion confounds
Enhanced tractography with accurate gray–white matter termination
Reliable cortical and subcortical surface delineation
Detailed projection field mapping between brain regions
Insensitivity to streamline count variations
Supports clinical assessments (e.g., TBI diagnosis, presurgical planning)
IP Status
https://patents.google.com/patent/US9489731B2
