Gaige Terry A, Benner Thomas, Wang Ruopeng, Wedeen Van J, Gilbert Richard J
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
J Magn Reson Imaging. 2007 Sep;26(3):654-61. doi: 10.1002/jmri.21022.
To study the anatomical relationships involving the intrinsic and extrinsic myofiber populations of the human tongue employing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with tractography.
Images of the human tongue in vivo were obtained using a twice-refocused spin echo DTI pulse sequence at 1.5 T, isotropic 3 x 3 x 3 mm(3) voxels, b-value 500 seconds/mm(2), and 90 different diffusion sensitizing gradient directions. Multivoxel tracts were generated along the vectors, corresponding to the directions of maximal diffusion in each voxel. The data was visualized using custom fiber tracking software and images compared with known anatomy.
DTI tractography depicts the complete three-dimensional (3D) myoarchitecture of the human tongue, specifically demonstrating the geometric relationships between the intrinsic and extrinsic myofiber populations. These results define the manner in which key extrinsic fiber populations merge with the longitudinally-, transversely-, and vertically-aligned intrinsic fibers.
The current results display for the first time the use of DTI tractography in vivo to visualize the complete structural anatomy of the human tongue and allow us to consider fundamental structure-function relationships.
采用扩散张量成像（DTI）及纤维束成像技术研究人类舌肌固有肌纤维群与外在肌纤维群之间的解剖学关系。
使用1.5T的二次重聚焦自旋回波DTI脉冲序列获取人类舌肌的活体图像，体素大小为各向同性3×3×3mm³，b值为500秒/mm²，扩散敏感梯度方向为90个。沿着对应每个体素最大扩散方向的向量生成多体素纤维束。使用定制的纤维追踪软件对数据进行可视化处理，并将图像与已知解剖结构进行比较。
DTI纤维束成像描绘了人类舌肌完整的三维肌结构，特别展示了固有肌纤维群与外在肌纤维群之间的几何关系。这些结果明确了关键外在纤维群与纵向、横向和垂直排列的固有纤维融合的方式。
目前的结果首次展示了在活体中使用DTI纤维束成像来可视化人类舌肌的完整结构解剖，并使我们能够思考基本的结构-功能关系。
