Analysis of partial volume effects in diffusion‐tensor MRI
Open accessAbstract
The diffusion tensor is currently the accepted model of diffusion in biological tissues. The measured diffusion behavior may be more complex when two or more distinct tissues with different diffusion tensors occupy the same voxel. In this study, a partial volume model of MRI signal behavior for two diffusion‐tensor compartments is presented. Simulations using this model demonstrate that the conventional single diffusion tensor model could lead to highly variable and inaccurate measurements of diffusion behavior. The differences between the single and two‐tensor models depend on the orientations, fractions, and exchange between the two diffusion tensor compartments, as well as the diffusion‐tensor encoding technique and diffusion‐weighting that is used in the measurements. The current single compartment model's inaccuracies could cause diffusion‐based characterization of cerebral ischemia and white matter connectivity to be incorrect. A diffusion‐tensor MRI imaging experiment on a normal human brain revealed significant partial volume effects between oblique white matter regions when using very large voxels and large diffusion‐weighting (b ∼ 2.69 × 10 3 sec/mm 2 ). However, the apparent partial volume effects in white matter decreased significantly when smaller voxel dimensions were used. For diffusion tensor studies obtained using typical diffusion‐weighting values (b ∼ 1 × 10 3 sec/mm 2 ) partial volume effects are much more difficult to detect and resolve. More accurate measurements of multiple diffusion compartments may lead to improved confidence in diffusion measurements for clinical applications. Magn Reson Med 45:770–780, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
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Differences in dMRI acquisition parameters, including vendor, voxel size, and angular resolution, are known to affect derived dMRI measures.
“differences in dMRI acquisition parameters, including vendor, voxel size, and angular resolution, are known to affect derived dMRI measures (Alexander et al., 2001; Cercignani et al., 2003; Zhan et al., 2010; Zhu et al., 2011).”
From Diffusion MRI Indices and Their Relation to Cognitive Impairment in Brain Aging: The Updated Multi-protocol Approach in ADNI3 (2019) · cites this paper as Alexander et al., 2001
The Imaging Experiments and Discussion (page not provided) show that voxel size and the orientation of diffusion-encoding axes affect derived trace and fractional-anisotropy measurements, particularly where partial-volume effects are significant. The paper uses one scanner vendor and does not establish an effect of vendor differences or angular resolution; rotating a fixed set of directions is not a test of angular resolution. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredCSF-based partial volume effects are known to result in artificial FA reductions and MD increases.
“As CSF based partial volume effects are known to result in artificial FA reductions and MD increases (Alexander et al., 2001; Vos et al., 2011; Metzler-Baddeley et al., 2012a), differences between patients and controls may be overestimated and could potentially reflect atrophy rather than intrinsic white matter microstructural changes.”
From The cingulum bundle: Anatomy, function, and dysfunction (2018) · cites this paper as Alexander et al., 2001
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- Authors
- Alexander, A. L., Hasan, K. M., Lazar, M., Tsuruda, J. S., & Parker, D. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Utah (US)
- Corresponding author
- Alexander, Andrew L.
- Venue
- Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2001-04-16
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 770-780
- ISSN
- 0740-3194 (ISSN-L)
- 1522-2594
- OpenAlex
- W2069816444
- Cited by
- 695
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 43 · 2013: 47 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 10.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH062015, MH 62015)
- National Cancer Institute (P30CA042014)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › NMR spectroscopy and applications
- Keywords
- partial volume effect, diffusion tensor imaging, diffusion tensor model, voxel size, white matter, cerebral ischemia, white matter connectivity, diffusion encoding
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Computer Simulation, Diffusion, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Anisotropy
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