Diffusion tensor imaging for brain malformations: does it help?

Abstract

In this article, the basics of diffusion-weighted imaging/diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) are discussed, including a short historical perspective on the fiber dissection technique, followed by a review of selected brain malformations in which DTI and tractography have contributed to a better understanding of the malformations, and by a clinical case in which DTI showed a disorder of the internal neuroarchitecture that could not be correctly appreciated by conventional anatomic magnetic resonance imaging.

Keywords: Axonal guidance disorders; Brain malformations; Children; Diffusion tensor imaging; Fiber tractography; Neuroimaging.