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Foesleitner, O.* ; Sulaj, A. ; Sturm, V.* ; Kronlage, M.* ; Preisner, F.* ; Kender, Z. ; Bendszus, M.* ; Szendroedi, J. ; Heiland, S.* ; Schwarz, D.*

Diffusion tensor imaging in anisotropic tissues: Application of reduced gradient vector schemes in peripheral nerves.

Eur. Radiol. Exp. 8:37 (2024)
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BACKGROUND: In contrast to the brain, fibers within peripheral nerves have distinct monodirectional structure questioning the necessity of complex multidirectional gradient vector schemes for DTI. This proof-of-concept study investigated the diagnostic utility of reduced gradient vector schemes in peripheral nerve DTI. METHODS: Three-Tesla magnetic resonance neurography of the tibial nerve using 20-vector DTI (DTI20) was performed in 10 healthy volunteers, 12 patients with type 2 diabetes, and 12 age-matched healthy controls. From the full DTI20 dataset, three reduced datasets including only two or three vectors along the x- and/or y- and z-axes were built to calculate major parameters. The influence of nerve angulation and intraneural connective tissue was assessed. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC-AUC) was used for analysis. RESULTS: Simplified datasets achieved excellent diagnostic accuracy equal to DTI20 (ROC-AUC 0.847-0.868, p ≤ 0.005), but compared to DTI20, the reduced models yielded mostly lower absolute values of DTI scalars: median fractional anisotropy (FA) ≤ 0.12; apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) ≤ 0.25; axial diffusivity ≤ 0.96, radial diffusivity ≤ 0.07). The precision of FA and ADC with the three-vector model was closest to DTI20. Intraneural connective tissue was negatively correlated with FA and ADC (r ≥ -0.49, p < 0.001). Small deviations of nerve angulation had little effect on FA accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: In peripheral nerves, bulk tissue DTI metrics can be approximated with only three predefined gradient vectors along the scanner's main axes, yielding similar diagnostic accuracy as a 20-vector DTI, resulting in substantial scan time reduction. RELEVANCE STATEMENT: DTI bulk tissue parameters of peripheral nerves can be calculated with only three predefined gradient vectors at similar diagnostic performance as a standard DTI but providing a substantial scan time reduction. KEY POINTS: • In peripheral nerves, DTI parameters can be approximated using only three gradient vectors. • The simplified model achieves a similar diagnostic performance as a standard DTI. • The simplified model allows for a significant acceleration of image acquisition. • This can help to introduce multi-b-value DTI techniques into clinical practice.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Corresponding Author
Keywords Diabetes Mellitus (type 2) ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Healthy Volunteers ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Peripheral Nerves; Polyneuropathy; Quantification; Neurography
ISSN (print) / ISBN 2509-9280
e-ISSN 2509-9280
Journal European Radiology Experimental
Quellenangaben Volume: 8, Issue: 1, Pages: , Article Number: 37 Supplement: ,
Publisher Springer
Publishing Place Prinz-eugen-strasse 8-10, A-1040 Vienna, Austria
Non-patent literature Publications
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Diabetes and Cancer (IDC)
Grants Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft