Validation and Regularization in Diffusion MRI Tractography

Abstract

We present a physical phantom designed for fibre tractography validation and use it to evaluate tracking algorithms that employ (a) the classic diffusion tensor model of diffusion, (b) high angular resolution reconstruction of the diffusion orientation distribution function (ODF), and (c) a regularization algorithm capable of inferring complex subvoxel fibre configurations. This work addresses four issues in diffusion MRI tractography: validation of the tracking process using ground truth, evaluation of different approaches for diffusion ODF reconstruction, coping with imaging noise, and coping with confounding subvoxel fibre configurations