Quantitative tractography: dream or reality? Part 1

Alessandro Daducci, Ph. D.

Diffusion MRI tractography allows studying in vivo the neuronal architecture of the brain and, because of this unique feature, it is widely used in neuroscience. However, since its inception, tractography has been riding on a roller coaster, alternating periods of high interest and hype with vivid debates regarding the accuracy and reliability of its reconstructions. In this talk, I will highlight and discuss the three major concerns that have been raised about tractography and will present a simple but powerful formulation called Convex Optimization Modeling for Microstructure Informed Tractography (COMMIT), which allows addressing all these limitations and, hopefully, restoring confidence in this technique.