ODF Fingerprinting

We are sharing MATLAB code for tractography applications in magnetic resonance fingerprinting.

Diffusion tractography is routinely used to study white matter architecture and brain connectivity in vivo. A key step for successful tractography of neuronal tracts is the correct identification of tract directions in each voxel. Here we present a methodology based on magnetic resonance fingerprinting for identifying fiber directions in orientation distribution functions (ODFs). In our method, called ODF-fingerprinting (ODF-FP), fiber configurations are selected based on the similarity between measured ODFs and elements in a pre-computed library. In noisy ODFs, the library matching algorithm penalizes the more complex fiber configurations.

The ODF-FP approach improves the detection of fiber pairs with small crossing angles while maintaining fiber direction precision, which leads to more accurate tractography. Rather than focusing on the ODF maxima, the ODF-FP algorithm uses the whole ODF shape to infer fiber directions to improve the detection of fiber bundles that cross at acute angles. The resulting fiber directions aid tractography algorithms in accurately displaying neuronal tracts and calculating brain connectivity.

Contact

Questions about this resource may be directed to Steven H. Baete, PhD.