Voxel-wise histogram analysis of tractography streamline length for assessing brain injury

Abstract

Streamline number and streamline length are quantitative tractography metrics that are influenced by white matter pathology. We propose to assess streamline length in a fully automated voxel-wise manner. The length distribution within an individual voxel can be described by a mixture of Gaussian distributions, and compared across subjects. Voxel-wise length distributions appear to be highly reproducible over time. We demonstrate how this new method can be used to identify fibre populations affected by white matter pathology.