Abstract #2750

Staempfli P, Reischauer C, Jaermann T, Valavanis A, Kollias S, Boesiger P

In the last few years, a variety of different DTI tracking algorithms has been proposed. However, there exists no standard procedure to validate tracking results. The focus in this study was to combine fMRI with DTI. Therefore, the somatotopical organization of the putamen was derived twice: Firstly, an fMRI based somatotopy was calculated; secondly, tracking algorithms were applied to derive somatotopical maps. It is shown that fMRI-guided DTI fiber tracking provides a promising tool for reconstructing anatomical networks underlying specific functional systems in the human brain and allows a validation of tracking results.