@article {2232, title = {Multi-tissue spherical deconvolution of tensor-valued diffusion MRI.}, journal = {Neuroimage}, volume = {245}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 12 15}, pages = {118717}, abstract = {Multi-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution (MT-CSD) leverages the characteristic b-value dependency of each tissue type to estimate both the apparent tissue densities and the white matter fiber orientation distribution function from diffusion MRI data. In this work, we generalize MT-CSD to tensor-valued diffusion encoding with arbitrary b-tensor shapes. This enables the use of data encoded with mixed b-tensors, rather than being limited to the subset of linear (conventional) b-tensors. Using the complete set of data, including all b-tensor shapes, provides a categorical improvement in the estimation of apparent tissue densities, fiber ODF, and resulting tractography. Furthermore, we demonstrate that including multiple b-tensor shapes in the analysis provides improved contrast between tissue types, in particular between gray matter and white matter. We also show that our approach provides high-quality apparent tissue density maps and high-quality fiber tracking from data, even with sparse sampling across b-tensors that yield whole-brain coverage at 2~mm isotropic resolution in approximately 5:15~min.}, keywords = {Brain Mapping, diffusion tensor imaging, Healthy Volunteers, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, white matter}, issn = {1095-9572}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118717}, author = {Ben Jeurissen and Szczepankiewicz, Filip} } @article {1492, title = {Iterative Reweighted Linear Least Squares for Accurate, Fast, and Robust Estimation of Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Parameters}, journal = {Magnetic Resonance in Medicine}, volume = {73}, year = {2015}, pages = {2174{\textendash}2184}, abstract = {Purpose: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging suffers from physiological noise, such as artifacts caused by motion or system instabilities. Therefore, there is a need for robust diffusion parameter estimation techniques. In the past, several techniques have been proposed, including RESTORE and iRESTORE. However, these techniques are based on nonlinear estimators and are consequently computationally intensive. Method: In this work, we present a new, robust, iteratively reweighted linear least squares (IRLLS) estimator. IRLLS performs a voxel-wise identification of outliers in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images, where it exploits the natural skewness of the data distribution to become more sensitive to both signal hyperintensities and signal dropouts. Results: Both simulations and real data experiments were conducted to compare IRLLS with other state-of-the-art techniques. While IRLLS showed no significant loss in accuracy or precision, it proved to be substantially faster than both RESTORE and iRESTORE. In addition, IRLLS proved to be even more robust when considering the overestimation of the noise level or when the signal-to-noise ratio is low. Conclusion: The substantially shortened calculation time in combination with the increased robustness and accuracy, make IRLLS a practical and reliable alternative to current state-of-theart techniques for the robust estimation of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance parameters.}, keywords = {diffusion tensor imaging, MRI, outlier detection, robust, weighted linear least squares}, doi = {10.1002/mrm.25351}, author = {Quinten Collier and Jelle Veraart and Ben Jeurissen and Arnold Jan den Dekker and Jan Sijbers} } @article {1547, title = {Recursive calibration of the fiber response function for spherical deconvolution of diffusion MRI data.}, journal = {NeuroImage}, volume = {86}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Feb 1}, pages = {67-80}, abstract = {There is accumulating evidence that at current acquisition resolutions for diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI, the vast majority of white matter voxels contains "crossing fibers", referring to complex fiber configurations in which multiple and distinctly differently oriented fiber populations exist. Spherical deconvolution based techniques are appealing to characterize this DW intra-voxel signal heterogeneity, as they provide a balanced trade-off between constraints on the required hardware performance and acquisition time on the one hand, and the reliability of the reconstructed fiber orientation distribution function (fODF) on the other hand. Recent findings, however, suggest that an inaccurate calibration of the response function (RF), which represents the DW signal profile of a single fiber orientation, can lead to the detection of spurious fODF peaks which, in turn, can have a severe impact on tractography results. Currently, the computation of this RF is either model-based or estimated from selected voxels that have a fractional anisotropy (FA) value above a predefined threshold. For both approaches, however, there are user-defined settings that affect the RF and, consequently, fODF estimation and tractography. Moreover, these settings still rely on the second-rank diffusion tensor, which may not be the appropriate model, especially at high b-values. In this work, we circumvent these issues for RF calibration by excluding "crossing fibers" voxels in a recursive framework. Our approach is evaluated with simulations and applied to in vivo and ex vivo data sets with different acquisition settings. The results demonstrate that with the proposed method the RF can be calibrated in a robust and automated way without needing to define ad-hoc FA threshold settings. Our framework facilitates the use of spherical deconvolution approaches in data sets in which it is not straightforward to define RF settings a priori.}, keywords = {Adult, Algorithms, Brain, Calibration, diffusion tensor imaging, Humans, Image Enhancement, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Male, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Pattern Recognition, Automated, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity}, issn = {1095-9572}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.067}, author = {Chantal M W Tax and Ben Jeurissen and Vos, Sjoerd B. and Viergever, Max A. and Alexander Leemans} } @article {1546, title = {Structural neuroimaging correlates of allelic variation of the BDNF val66met polymorphism.}, journal = {NeuroImage}, volume = {90}, year = {2014}, month = {2014 Apr 15}, pages = {280-9}, abstract = {BACKGROUND: The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) val66met polymorphism is associated with altered activity dependent secretion of BDNF and a variable influence on brain morphology and cognition. Although a met-dose effect is generally assumed, to date the paucity of met-homozygotes have limited our understanding of the role of the met-allele on brain structure. METHODS: To investigate this phenomenon, we recruited sixty normal healthy subjects, twenty in each genotypic group (val/val, val/met and met/met). Global and local morphology were assessed using voxel based morphometry and surface reconstruction methods. White matter organisation was also investigated using tract-based spatial statistics and constrained spherical deconvolution tractography. RESULTS: Morphological analysis revealed an "inverted-U" shaped profile of cortical changes, with val/met heterozygotes most different relative to the two homozygous groups. These results were evident at a global and local level as well as in tractography analysis of white matter fibre bundles. CONCLUSION: In contrast to our expectations, we found no evidence of a linear met-dose effect on brain structure, rather our results support the view that the heterozygotic BDNF val66met genotype is associated with cortical morphology that is more distinct from the BDNF val66met homozygotes. These results may prove significant in furthering our understanding of the role of the BDNF met-allele in disorders such as Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease and depression.}, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Alleles, Brain, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, diffusion tensor imaging, Female, Genotype, Heterozygote, Homozygote, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Middle Aged, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Young Adult}, issn = {1095-9572}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.050}, author = {Forde, Natalie J and Ronan, Lisa and Suckling, John and Scanlon, Cathy and Neary, Simon and Holleran, Laurena and Alexander Leemans and Tait, Roger and Rua, Catarina and Fletcher, Paul C and Ben Jeurissen and Dodds, Chris M and Miller, Sam R and Bullmore, Edward T and Colm McDonald and Nathan, Pradeep J and Dara M. Cannon} } @mastersthesis {1337, title = {Improved analysis of brain connectivity using high angular resolution diffusion MRI}, volume = {PhD in Sciences}, year = {2012}, month = {03/2012}, pages = {208}, school = {University of Antwerp}, type = {PhD thesis}, keywords = {complex WM architecture, constrained spherical deconvolution, crossing fibers, CSD, Diffusion MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, DTI, HARDI, high angular resolution diffusion imaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, probabilistic tractography, Spherical deconvolution, Tractography, white matter, WM}, author = {Ben Jeurissen} } @article {1516, title = {Improved sensitivity to cerebral white matter abnormalities in Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease with spherical deconvolution based tractography.}, journal = {PloS one}, volume = {7}, year = {2012}, month = {2012}, pages = {e44074}, abstract = {Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based fiber tractography (FT) is the most popular approach for investigating white matter tracts in vivo, despite its inability to reconstruct fiber pathways in regions with "crossing fibers." Recently, constrained spherical deconvolution (CSD) has been developed to mitigate the adverse effects of "crossing fibers" on DTI based FT. Notwithstanding the methodological benefit, the clinical relevance of CSD based FT for the assessment of white matter abnormalities remains unclear. In this work, we evaluated the applicability of a hybrid framework, in which CSD based FT is combined with conventional DTI metrics to assess white matter abnormalities in 25 patients with early Alzheimer{\textquoteright}s disease. Both CSD and DTI based FT were used to reconstruct two white matter tracts: one with regions of "crossing fibers," i.e., the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) and one which contains only one fiber orientation, i.e. the midsagittal section of the corpus callosum (CC). The DTI metrics, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), obtained from these tracts were related to memory function. Our results show that in the tract with "crossing fibers" the relation between FA/MD and memory was stronger with CSD than with DTI based FT. By contrast, in the fiber bundle where one fiber population predominates, the relation between FA/MD and memory was comparable between both tractography methods. Importantly, these associations were most pronounced after adjustment for the planar diffusion coefficient, a measure reflecting the degree of fiber organization complexity. These findings indicate that compared to conventionally applied DTI based FT, CSD based FT combined with DTI metrics can increase the sensitivity to detect functionally significant white matter abnormalities in tracts with complex white matter architecture.}, keywords = {Aged, 80 and over, Alzheimer Disease, Cerebrum, Cognition, Corpus Callosum, diffusion tensor imaging, Female, Humans, Male, Memory, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0044074}, author = {Reijmer, Yael D and Alexander Leemans and Heringa, Sophie M and Wielaard, Ilse and Ben Jeurissen and Koek, Huiberdina L and Biessels, Geert Jan} } @article {1374, title = {Quantitative diffusion tensor imaging in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: revisited.}, journal = {Human brain mapping}, volume = {30}, year = {2009}, month = {2009 Nov}, pages = {3657-75}, abstract = {Voxel-based analyses (VBA) are increasingly being used to detect white matter abnormalities with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in different types of pathologies. However, the validity, specificity, and sensitivity of statistical inferences of group differences to a large extent depend on the quality of the spatial normalization of the DTI images. Using high-dimensional nonrigid coregistration techniques that are able to align both the spatial and orientational diffusion information and incorporate appropriate templates that contain this complete DT information may improve this quality. Alternatively, a hybrid technique such as tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) may improve the reliability of the statistical results by generating voxel-wise statistics without the need for perfect image alignment and spatial smoothing. In this study, we have used (1) a coregistration algorithm that was optimized for coregistration of DTI data and (2) a population-based DTI atlas to reanalyze our previously published VBA, which compared the fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity maps of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with those of healthy controls. Additionally, we performed a complementary TBSS analysis to improve our understanding and interpretation of the VBA results. We demonstrate that, as the overall variance of the diffusion properties is lowered after normalizing the DTI data with such recently developed techniques (VBA using our own optimized high-dimensional nonrigid coregistration and TBSS), more reliable voxel-wise statistical results can be obtained than had previously been possible, with our VBA and TBSS yielding very similar results. This study provides support for the view of ALS as a multisystem disease, in which the entire frontotemporal lobe is implicated.}, keywords = {Adult, Aged, Algorithms, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, anisotropy, Brain, Brain Mapping, Case-Control Studies, diffusion tensor imaging, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Middle Aged, Reproducibility of Results, Sensitivity and Specificity, Statistics as Topic}, issn = {1097-0193}, doi = {10.1002/hbm.20794}, author = {Caroline A Sage and Wim Van Hecke and Ron R Peeters and Jan Sijbers and Robberecht, Wim and Paul M Parizel and Marchal, Guy and Alexander Leemans and Stefan Sunaert} }