12,189 research outputs found
Angular Upsampling in Infant Diffusion MRI Using Neighborhood Matching in x-q Space
Diffusion MRI requires sufficient coverage of the diffusion wavevector space,
also known as the q-space, to adequately capture the pattern of water diffusion
in various directions and scales. As a result, the acquisition time can be
prohibitive for individuals who are unable to stay still in the scanner for an
extensive period of time, such as infants. To address this problem, in this
paper we harness non-local self-similar information in the x-q space of
diffusion MRI data for q-space upsampling. Specifically, we first perform
neighborhood matching to establish the relationships of signals in x-q space.
The signal relationships are then used to regularize an ill-posed inverse
problem related to the estimation of high angular resolution diffusion MRI data
from its low-resolution counterpart. Our framework allows information from
curved white matter structures to be used for effective regularization of the
otherwise ill-posed problem. Extensive evaluations using synthetic and infant
diffusion MRI data demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. Compared with
the widely adopted interpolation methods using spherical radial basis functions
and spherical harmonics, our method is able to produce high angular resolution
diffusion MRI data with greater quality, both qualitatively and quantitatively.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figure
Probing white-matter microstructure with higher-order diffusion tensors and susceptibility tensor MRI.
Diffusion MRI has become an invaluable tool for studying white matter microstructure and brain connectivity. The emergence of quantitative susceptibility mapping and susceptibility tensor imaging (STI) has provided another unique tool for assessing the structure of white matter. In the highly ordered white matter structure, diffusion MRI measures hindered water mobility induced by various tissue and cell membranes, while susceptibility sensitizes to the molecular composition and axonal arrangement. Integrating these two methods may produce new insights into the complex physiology of white matter. In this study, we investigated the relationship between diffusion and magnetic susceptibility in the white matter. Experiments were conducted on phantoms and human brains in vivo. Diffusion properties were quantified with the diffusion tensor model and also with the higher order tensor model based on the cumulant expansion. Frequency shift and susceptibility tensor were measured with quantitative susceptibility mapping and susceptibility tensor imaging. These diffusion and susceptibility quantities were compared and correlated in regions of single fiber bundles and regions of multiple fiber orientations. Relationships were established with similarities and differences identified. It is believed that diffusion MRI and susceptibility MRI provide complementary information of the microstructure of white matter. Together, they allow a more complete assessment of healthy and diseased brains
Scanner Invariant Representations for Diffusion MRI Harmonization
Purpose: In the present work we describe the correction of diffusion-weighted
MRI for site and scanner biases using a novel method based on invariant
representation.
Theory and Methods: Pooled imaging data from multiple sources are subject to
variation between the sources. Correcting for these biases has become very
important as imaging studies increase in size and multi-site cases become more
common. We propose learning an intermediate representation invariant to
site/protocol variables, a technique adapted from information theory-based
algorithmic fairness; by leveraging the data processing inequality, such a
representation can then be used to create an image reconstruction that is
uninformative of its original source, yet still faithful to underlying
structures. To implement this, we use a deep learning method based on
variational auto-encoders (VAE) to construct scanner invariant encodings of the
imaging data.
Results: To evaluate our method, we use training data from the 2018 MICCAI
Computational Diffusion MRI (CDMRI) Challenge Harmonization dataset. Our
proposed method shows improvements on independent test data relative to a
recently published baseline method on each subtask, mapping data from three
different scanning contexts to and from one separate target scanning context.
Conclusion: As imaging studies continue to grow, the use of pooled multi-site
imaging will similarly increase. Invariant representation presents a strong
candidate for the harmonization of these data
Generating Diffusion MRI scalar maps from T1 weighted images using generative adversarial networks
Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (diffusion MRI) is a non-invasive
microstructure assessment technique. Scalar measures, such as FA (fractional
anisotropy) and MD (mean diffusivity), quantifying micro-structural tissue
properties can be obtained using diffusion models and data processing
pipelines. However, it is costly and time consuming to collect high quality
diffusion data. Here, we therefore demonstrate how Generative Adversarial
Networks (GANs) can be used to generate synthetic diffusion scalar measures
from structural T1-weighted images in a single optimized step. Specifically, we
train the popular CycleGAN model to learn to map a T1 image to FA or MD, and
vice versa. As an application, we show that synthetic FA images can be used as
a target for non-linear registration, to correct for geometric distortions
common in diffusion MRI
Evaluating fibre orientation dispersion in white matter: comparison of diffusion MRI, histology and polarized light imaging
Diffusion MRI is an exquisitely sensitive probe of tissue microstructure, and is currently the only non-invasive measure of the brain’s fibre architecture. As this technique becomes more sophisticated and microstructurally informative, there is increasing value in comparing diffusion MRI with microscopic imaging in the same tissue samples. This study compared estimates of fibre orientation dispersion in white matter derived from diffusion MRI to reference measures of dispersion obtained from polarized light imaging and histology.
Three post-mortem brain specimens were scanned with diffusion MRI and analyzed with a two-compartment dispersion model. The specimens were then sectioned for microscopy, including polarized light imaging estimates of fibre orientation and histological quantitative estimates of myelin and astrocytes. Dispersion estimates were correlated on region – and voxel-wise levels in the corpus callosum, the centrum semiovale and the corticospinal tract.
The region-wise analysis yielded correlation coefficients of r=0.79 for the diffusion MRI and histology comparison, while r=0.60 was reported for the comparison with polarized light imaging. In the corpus callosum, we observed a pattern of higher dispersion at the midline compared to its lateral aspects. This pattern was present in all modalities and the dispersion profiles from microscopy and diffusion MRI were highly correlated. The astrocytes appeared to have minor contribution to dispersion observed with diffusion MRI.
These results demonstrate that fibre orientation dispersion estimates from diffusion MRI represents the tissue architecture well. Dispersion models might be improved by more faithfully incorporating an informed mapping based on microscopy data
Microstructural parameter estimation in vivo using diffusion MRI and structured prior information.
Diffusion MRI has recently been used with detailed models to probe tissue microstructure. Much of this work has been performed ex vivo with powerful scanner hardware, to gain sensitivity to parameters such as axon radius. By contrast, performing microstructure imaging on clinical scanners is extremely challenging
Bayesian uncertainty quantification in linear models for diffusion MRI
Diffusion MRI (dMRI) is a valuable tool in the assessment of tissue
microstructure. By fitting a model to the dMRI signal it is possible to derive
various quantitative features. Several of the most popular dMRI signal models
are expansions in an appropriately chosen basis, where the coefficients are
determined using some variation of least-squares. However, such approaches lack
any notion of uncertainty, which could be valuable in e.g. group analyses. In
this work, we use a probabilistic interpretation of linear least-squares
methods to recast popular dMRI models as Bayesian ones. This makes it possible
to quantify the uncertainty of any derived quantity. In particular, for
quantities that are affine functions of the coefficients, the posterior
distribution can be expressed in closed-form. We simulated measurements from
single- and double-tensor models where the correct values of several quantities
are known, to validate that the theoretically derived quantiles agree with
those observed empirically. We included results from residual bootstrap for
comparison and found good agreement. The validation employed several different
models: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Mean Apparent Propagator MRI (MAP-MRI)
and Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (CSD). We also used in vivo data to
visualize maps of quantitative features and corresponding uncertainties, and to
show how our approach can be used in a group analysis to downweight subjects
with high uncertainty. In summary, we convert successful linear models for dMRI
signal estimation to probabilistic models, capable of accurate uncertainty
quantification.Comment: Added results from a group analysis and a comparison with residual
bootstra
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