The Software Development for Diffusion Tensor Imaging

Purpose： We developed the software for diffusion tensor imaging and evaluated its feasibility in norm brains. Method： Five normal volunteers, aged from 25 to 29 years, were examined on a 1.5 T MR system. the diffusion tensor pulse sequence used a SE-EPI with 6 diffusion gradie directions of (1, 1, 0), (-1, 1,0), (1, 0, 1), (-1, 0, 1), (0, 1, 1), (0, 1, -1) and also with no diffusion gradient. A b-factor of 500 sec/mm2 was used. Measurement parameter were as follows； TR/TE=10000 ms/99 ms, FOV=240 mm, matrix=128$\times$128, slice thickness/gap=6 mm/0 mm, bandwidth=91 kHz and the number of total slices=20. Four repeated axial diffusion images were averaged for diffusion tensor imaging. A total scan 11 of 4 min 30 sec was used. Six full diffusion tensor components of Dxx, Dyy, Dzz, Dxy, Dxz and Dyz were obtained using two-point linear regression model from 7 diffusion-weight images at each pixel and fractional anisotropy and lattice index images was estimated fr their eigenvectors and eigenvalues. Our program was written on a platform of IDL. W evaluated the qualities of fractional anisotropy and lattice index images of normal brains a knew whether our software for diffusion tensor imaging may be feasible.