Determination of neural fiber connections based on data structure algorithm

Abstract

The brain activity during perception or cognition is mostly examined by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, the cause of the detected activity relies on the anatomy. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTMRI) as a noninvasive modality providing in vivo anatomical information allows determining neural fiber connections which leads to brain mapping. Still a complete map of fiber paths representing the human brain is missing in literature. One of the main drawbacks of reliable fiber mapping is the correct detection of the orientation of multiple fibers within a single imaging voxel. In this study a method based on linear data structures is proposed to define the fiber paths regarding their diffusivity. Another advantage of the proposed method is that the analysis is applied on entire brain diffusion tensor data. The implementation results are promising, so that the method will be developed as a rapid fiber tractography algorithm for the clinical use as future study.