Daniel M. Krainak1, Jennifer L. Hufton2, Nadia M. Biassou3, David M. Thomasson2, Sunder S. Rajan1
1CDRH/OSEL/DP, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD, United States; 2NIAID, NIH, Bethesda, MD, United States; 3CC, NIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
We assess the reproducibility and reliability of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-derived metrics, such as fractional anisotropy, using a previously reported polyester fiber based anisotropic phantom. Our results indicate that DTI-metrics are stable across time (days) and slice location when acquired perpendicular to the fiber orientation. The measurements (fractional anisotropy, FA; axial diffusivity, AD; and radial diffusivity, RD) obtained from various fiber orientations were not consistent, and possibly influenced by the orientation of the fibers relative to the angulation of the acquisition slice.