Diffusion tensor imaging in anisotropic tissues: application of reduced gradient vector schemes in peripheral nerves

Abstract Background In contrast to the brain, fibers within peripheral nerves have distinct monodirectional structure questioning the necessity of complex multidirectional gradient vector schemes for DTI. This proof-of-concept study investigated the diagnostic utility of reduced gradient vector schemes in peripheral nerve DTI. Methods Three-Tesla magnetic resonance neurography of the tibial nerve using 20-vector DTI (DTI 20 ) was performed in 10 healthy volunteers, 12 patients with type 2 diabetes, and 12 age-matched healthy controls. From the full DTI 20 dataset, three reduced datasets including only two or three vectors along the x - and/or y - and z -axes were built to calculate major parameters. The influence of nerve angulation and intraneural connective tissue was assessed. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (ROC-AUC) was used for analysis. Results Simplified datasets achieved excellent diagnostic accuracy equal to DTI 20 (ROC-AUC 0.847–0.868, p ≤ 0.005), but compared to DTI 20 , the reduced models yielded mostly lower absolute values of DTI scalars: median fractional anisotropy (FA) ≤ 0.12; apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) ≤ 0.25; axial diffusivity ≤ 0.96, radial diffusivity ≤ 0.07). The precision of FA and ADC with the three-vector model was closest to DTI 20 . Intraneural connective tissue was negatively correlated with FA and ADC ( r ≥ -0.49, p < 0.001). Small deviations of nerve angulation had little effect on FA accuracy. Conclusions In peripheral nerves, bulk tissue DTI metrics can be approximated with only three predefined gradient vectors along the scanner’s main axes, yielding similar diagnostic accuracy as a 20-vector DTI, resulting in substantial scan time reduction. Relevance statement DTI bulk tissue parameters of peripheral nerves can be calculated with only three predefined gradient vectors at similar diagnostic performance as a standard DTI but providing a substantial scan time reduction. Key points • In peripheral nerves, DTI parameters can be approximated using only three gradient vectors. • The simplified model achieves a similar diagnostic performance as a standard DTI. • The simplified model allows for a significant acceleration of image acquisition. • This can help to introduce multi-b-value DTI techniques into clinical practice. Graphical Abstract