DTI metrics calculation

MRI Processing
1

Dear SCT developers,
I am working on a study that explore MS patients using DTI in cervical SC over different ROIs including VC,DC, and LC, however I found that the MD, AD,and RD of MS group were lower in the VC comparing to other DC and LC when compared with healthy group, is that an expected results or there might be some technical issues during data processing?

Thanks

2

Hello!

VC (ventral columns) are generally smaller than DC (dorsal columns) and LC (lateral columns), meaning that VC are (due to their smaller size) more susceptible to the partial volume effect.
Additionally, VC contain both motor and sensory tracts, while DC contain sensory tracts only, and LT contain massive motor tracts (lateral corticospinal tracts). Different tract size and myelination might influence DTI metrics. See, for example, Taso et al. 2016 reporting differences between WM columns and tracts.

Cheers,
Jan

3

Thank you so much

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