Deterministic and probabilistic tractography based on complex fibre orientation distributions
Open accessAbstract
We propose an integral concept for tractography to describe crossing and splitting fibre bundles based on the fibre orientation distribution function (ODF) estimated from high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI). We show that in order to perform accurate probabilistic tractography, one needs to use a fibre ODF estimation and not the diffusion ODF. We use a new fibre ODF estimation obtained from a sharpening deconvolution transform (SDT) of the diffusion ODF reconstructed from q-ball imaging (QBI). This SDT provides new insight into the relationship between the HARDI signal, the diffusion ODF, and the fibre ODF. We demonstrate that the SDT agrees with classical spherical deconvolution and improves the angular resolution of QBI. Another important contribution of this paper is the development of new deterministic and new probabilistic tractography algorithms using the full multidirectional information obtained through use of the fibre ODF. An extensive comparison study is performed on human brain datasets comparing our new deterministic and probabilistic tracking algorithms in complex fibre crossing regions. Finally, as an application of our new probabilistic tracking, we quantify the reconstruction of transcallosal fibres intersecting with the corona radiata and the superior longitudinal fasciculus in a group of eight subjects. Most current diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-based methods neglect these fibres, which might lead to incorrect interpretations of brain functions.
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The DTI model cannot differentiate tissue compartments or crossing fibers, which are estimated to occur in up to 90% of white matter voxels at typical dMRI resolution.
“The DTI model cannot differentiate these components or even crossing fibers (Tuch et al., 2002; Jbabdi et al., 2010), which are estimated to occur in up to 90% of WM voxels at the typical dMRI resolution (Descoteaux et al., 2009; Jeurissen et al., 2013).”
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 Descoteaux et al., 2009
The Introduction says that many voxels contain multiple crossing or otherwise complex fiber populations at DTI acquisition resolution. Section 4.1 also reports voxels with two- and three-fiber crossings. Neither passage gives the cited estimate of up to 90% of white-matter voxels, so the numerical part attributed to this source is unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredTractography results can vary across the large set of available diffusion models and tractography methods.
“On one hand, tractography results may vary across the large set of available diffusion models (Afzali et al., 2020; Alexander, 2006; Panagiotaki et al., 2012; Yablonskiy and Sukstanskii, 2010) and tractography methods”
From Quantitative mapping of the brain’s structural connectivity using diffusion MRI tractography: A review (2022) · cites this paper as Descoteaux et al., 2008
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- Authors
- Descoteaux, M., Deriche, R., Knosche, T. R., & Anwander, A.
- Affiliations
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences (DE)
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging
- Published
- 2009-02
- Volume
- 28
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 269-286
- ISSN
- 0278-0062 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-254X
- OpenAlex
- W2108895118
- Cited by
- 698
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 53 · 2017: 49 · 2016: 48 · 2015: 58 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 43
- FWCI
- 21.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Medical Image Segmentation Techniques
- Keywords
- tractography, probabilistic tractography, deterministic tractography, crossing fibers, fiber splitting, high angular resolution diffusion imaging, Q-ball imaging, spherical deconvolution, corpus callosum, superior longitudinal fasciculus, corona radiata, white matter connectivity
- MeSH terms
- Algorithms, Brain, Humans, Image Enhancement, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Models, Neurological, Nerve Fibers, Sensitivity and Specificity, Reproducibility of Results, Models, Statistical, Normal Distribution, Echo-Planar Imaging, Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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