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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

Published ahead of print on March 13, 2008
doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A1052

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American Journal of Neuroradiology 29:843-852, May 2008
© 2008 American Society of Neuroradiology

Physics Review

Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging and Fiber Tractography: Technical Considerations

P. Mukherjee^a, S.W. Chung^a, J.I. Berman^a, C.P. Hess^a and R.G. Henry^a

^a From the Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif

Please address correspondence to Pratik Mukherjee, MD, PhD, Department of Radiology, Box 0628, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Ave, L-358, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628; e-mail: pratik{at}radiology.ucsf.edu

SUMMARY:This second article of the 2-part review builds on the theoretic background provided by the first article to cover the major technical factors that affect image quality in diffusion imaging, including the acquisition sequence, magnet field strength, gradient amplitude, and slew rate as well as multichannel radio-frequency coils and parallel imaging. The sources of many common diffusion image artifacts are also explored in detail. The emphasis is on optimizing these technical factors for state-of-the-art diffusion-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based on the best available evidence in the literature. An overview of current methods for quantitative analysis of DTI data and fiber tractography in clinical research is also provided.