Poster: http://www.physics.uwo.ca/colloquia/Colloquia%20Notices/2011_2012/STEVENS%20Research%20Talk.pdf
Western University
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY COLLOQUIUM
Date: Tuesday, 7th February 2011
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Physics & Astronomy Seminar Room 22
Dr. Todd Stevens
Robarts Research Institute
Imaging Research Laboratories
“Accelerated high angular resolution diffusion imaging using compressed sensing: Crossing fiber data you can trust in a time you can afford”
ABSTRACT
There are a large number of neuroscience and neurology applications that would benefit from robust functional brain connectivity information. To substantiate and enhance functional MRI (fMRI) analyses of neural circuitry, diffusion–weighted MRI can provide information about the underlying white matter connectivity architecture. However, conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques are not capable of characterizing the diffusion of voxels that contain multiple crossing fibers—a situation that is known to occur in up to 30% of voxels acquired with typical diffusion imaging resolutions. Consequently, network tractography information generated from DTI data is prone to inaccuracies.
High angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) schemes more finely sample the diffusion field to allow for more complete characterization of intra–voxel crossing fibers. The principal drawback of HARDI techniques is long scan times that preclude the acquisition of both fMRI and diffusion data in a reasonable exam time. Advantageously, diffusion information is amenable to dramatic acquisition accelerations using a new approach called compressed sensing (CS). Using CS–based acquisitions, accurate tractography maps based on HARDI information can be acquired at the lower acquisition costs of typical DTI.
This talk will introduce the concepts of CS-HARDI as well as provide details on the development roadmap for establishing and validating this technique, and will briefly describe some potential applications of this technique in the context of existing research interests at Western.
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