Catani Marco
Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences and Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry PO89, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK.
Curr Opin Neurol. 2006 Dec;19(6):599-606. doi: 10.1097/01.wco.0000247610.44106.3f.
The advent of novel techniques for tracing connections in vivo, such as diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography, allows us, for the first time in the human brain, to study the microstructural integrity of white matter fibres and perform virtual dissections of large scale neurocognitive networks. This review will outline the advantages and limitations of applying diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging to the study of cognitive and behavioural disorders in neurology and psychiatry.
Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging has been used to re-explore the anatomy of white matter tracts in the living human brain and to create connectional models of brain function. Beyond its application to classical disconnection syndromes, diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging is becoming an important tool to extend the disconnectionist paradigm to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
For the first time, we are able to correlate disconnecting lesions with clinical symptoms in vivo and test the disconnection mechanism directly in cognitive disorders. With diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography alone and in combination with other magnetic resonance imaging techniques, researchers are able to detect abnormalities in white matter that are not visible with conventional magnetic resonance imaging.
诸如扩散张量磁共振成像纤维束示踪等体内追踪连接的新技术问世，使我们首次能够在人类大脑中研究白质纤维的微观结构完整性，并对大规模神经认知网络进行虚拟解剖。本综述将概述将扩散张量磁共振成像应用于神经学和精神病学认知与行为障碍研究的优势和局限性。
扩散张量磁共振成像已被用于重新探索活体人类大脑中白质束的解剖结构，并创建脑功能连接模型。除了应用于经典的分离综合征外，扩散张量磁共振成像正成为将分离主义范式扩展到神经发育和神经退行性疾病的重要工具。
我们首次能够在体内将分离性病变与临床症状相关联，并在认知障碍中直接测试分离机制。仅通过扩散张量磁共振成像纤维束示踪以及与其他磁共振成像技术相结合，研究人员就能够检测到传统磁共振成像无法看到的白质异常。
