Authors :
Presenting Author: Aya Kanno, MD, PhD – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University
Kazuki Sakakura, MD,PhD – Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University; Yu Kitazawa, MD,PhD – Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University; Masaki Sonoda, MD,PhD – Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University; Ethan Firestone, MS – Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University; Jeong-Won Jeong, MD,PhD – Neurology – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University; Aimee Luat, MD – Neurology – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center; Sandeep Sood, MD – Neurosurgery – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit Medical Center,; Eishi Asano, Prof – Pediatrics – Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Wayne State University
Rationale:
Dynamic tractography, an advanced imaging technique, allows quantification and visualization of intra- and inter-hemispheric neural communications through white matter pathways. This study aims to develop a white matter streamline template for region of interest (ROI)-based dynamic tractography at the whole-brain level.
Methods:
Open-source diffusion weighted imaging data from 1,065 healthy participants was employed to define white matter streamlines. Tractography streamlines connecting ROIs within the Montreal Neurological Institute standard space were visualized using DSI Studio (http://dsi-studio.labsolver.org/). The streamline templates were generated employing the following parameters: a quantitative anisotropy threshold of 0.05, a maximum turning angle of 70°, and a streamline length of 20 to 250 mm.
Results:
The constructed template encompassed 62 anatomical ROIs, leading to 1891 ROI pairs. Tractography analysis visualized direct white matter streamlines between 925 of the 1891 ROI pairs (48.9%), and between 150 of the 160 immediately neighboring ROI pairs (93.75%).
Conclusions:
We successfully developed a comprehensive white matter streamline template that can facilitate the construction of whole-brain dynamic tractography atlases. Given the expectation that each pair of adjacent ROIs should have a direct white matter pathway, further exploration of different parameter settings is warranted to enhance pathway visualization. By providing our white matter streamline templates as open-source resources, we aim to enable the research community to generate dynamic tractography atlases, potentially aiding in epilepsy presurgical evaluations.
Funding:
Japan-U.S. Brain Research Cooperation Program, JERF TENKAN 22102, The ITO Foundation (to A.K.)
NIH R01 NS089659 (to J.J.).
NIH R01 NS064033 (to E.A.).