Quantitative evaluation of 10 tractography algorithms on a realistic diffusion MR phantom.

Pierre Fillard (1, 2) , Maxime Descoteaux (3) , Alvina Goh (4) , Sylvain Gouttard (5) , Ben Jeurissen (6) , James Malcolm (7) , Alonso Ramirez-Manzanares (8) , Marco Reisert (9) , Ken Sakaie (10) , Fatima Tensaouti (11) , Ting Yo (12) , Jean-François Mangin (2) , Cyril Poupon (13)

1 PARIETAL - Modelling brain structure, function and variability based on high-field MRI data
2 LNAO - Laboratoire de Neuroimagerie Assistée par Ordinateur
3 MOIVRE Centre
4 Department of Mathematics [Singapore]
5 SCI Institute - Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute
6 Vision Lab [Antwerp]
7 PNL - Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory
8 CIMAT - Centro de Investigación en Matemáticas
9 Department of Radiology, Medical Physics
10 Imaging Institute [Cleveland]
11 ICHN - Imagerie cérébrale et handicaps neurologiques
12 IMPNSC - Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences [Leipzig]
13 LRMN - Laboratoire d'Imagerie et de Spectroscopie

As it provides the only method for mapping white matter fibers in vivo, diffusion MRI tractography is gaining importance in clinical and neuroscience research. However, despite the increasing availability of different diffusion models and tractography algorithms, it remains unclear how to select the optimal fiber reconstruction method, given certain imaging parameters. Consequently, it is of utmost importance to have a quantitative comparison of these models and algorithms and a deeper understanding of the corresponding strengths and weaknesses. In this work, we use a common dataset with known ground truth and a reproducible methodology to quantitatively evaluate the performance of various diffusion models and tractography algorithms. To examine a wide range of methods, the dataset, but not the ground truth, was released to the public for evaluation in a contest, the "Fiber Cup". 10 fiber reconstruction methods were evaluated. The results provide evidence that: 1. For high SNR datasets, diffusion models such as (fiber) orientation distribution functions correctly model the underlying fiber distribution and can be used in conjunction with streamline tractography, and 2. For medium or low SNR datasets, a prior on the spatial smoothness of either the diffusion model or the fibers is recommended for correct modelling of the fiber distribution and proper tractography results. The phantom dataset, the ground truth fibers, the evaluation methodology and the results obtained so far will remain publicly available on: http://www.lnao.fr/spip.php?rubrique79 to serve as a comparison basis for existing or new tractography methods. New results can be submitted to [e-mail] and updates will be published on the webpage.

Domaines: Médecine nucléaire

Pierre Fillard, Maxime Descoteaux, Alvina Goh, Sylvain Gouttard, Ben Jeurissen, et al.. Quantitative evaluation of 10 tractography algorithms on a realistic diffusion MR phantom.. NeuroImage, 2011, 56 (1), pp.220-34. ⟨10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.01.032⟩. ⟨inria-00559191⟩