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Abstract #4421

The Importance of Angular Dispersion in Physiological Modeling of Transverse Diffusion Signal Decay

Novena A Rangwala 1 , David B Hackney 1 , and David C Alsop 1

1 Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

In this theoretical study we have investigated the effect of axonal dispersion in white matter on the accuracy of physiological parameters estimated with a diffusion model incorporating axonal dispersion into AxCaliber. Diffusion signal decay was estimated with a characteristic dispersion angle of 6, at diffusion times 201000 ms and two axonal diameter distributions, and fit to AxCaliber equations without angular dispersion. Results show that although AxCaliber can fit the signal decay curves effectively, the fitted parameters do not accurately match the assumed physiological parameters. These results strongly suggest that models of diffusion signal decay include axonal dispersion, even in white matter tracts with well-aligned fibers.

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