On the reproducibility and anatomical correspondence of DSI tractography

Diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) is increasingly explored in clinical research. The quantitative value of the DSI technique, however, has still to be established. In this context, a better understanding of the reproducibility and the anatomical correspondence of the DSI tractography results is required. Although reproducibility has been studied comprehensively for diffusion tensor imaging, only few studies have considered this topic for q-ball imaging and DSI analysis. Anatomical correspondence has been demonstrated in human DSI examinations for selected brain structures. In this study, we investigate reproducibility and anatomical correspondence in serial DSI scans by focusing on the choice of tractography reconstruction parameters. Evaluations are based on connectivity measurements between cortical regions and on comparison with a histological atlas.