Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institute, 17177 Stockholm, Sweden.
Magn Reson Imaging. 2011 Feb;29(2):289-92. doi: 10.1016/j.mri.2010.07.004. Epub 2010 Sep 17.
Magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging with fiber tracking is used for 3-dimensional visualization of the nervous system. Peripheral nerves and all cranial nerves, except for the olfactory tract, have previously been visualized. The olfactory tracts are difficult to depict with diffusion-weighted imaging due to the high sensitivity to susceptibility artifacts at the base of the skull. Here we report an optimized single-shot diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging sequence that can visualize the olfactory tracts with fiber tracking. Five healthy individuals were examined, and the olfactory tracts could be fiber tracked with the diffusion-weighted sequence. For comparison and as a negative control, an anosmic patient was examined. No olfactory tracts were visualized on T2-weighted nor diffusion-weighted fiber tracking images. Measuring diffusion in the olfactory tracts promise to facilitate the identification of different hyposmic and anosmic conditions.
磁共振扩散张量成像和纤维追踪用于神经系统的三维可视化。以前已经可以可视化外周神经和所有颅神经，除了嗅束。由于对颅底的磁化率伪影高度敏感，因此用扩散加权成像很难描绘嗅束。在这里，我们报告了一种优化的单次激发扩散加权回波平面成像序列，该序列可以通过纤维追踪可视化嗅束。对五名健康个体进行了检查，并且可以用扩散加权序列对嗅束进行纤维追踪。作为比较和阴性对照，对一名嗅觉丧失的患者进行了检查。在 T2 加权像和扩散加权纤维追踪图像上均未观察到嗅束。测量嗅束中的扩散有望促进对不同嗅觉减退和嗅觉丧失情况的识别。
