A novel constraint for anatomical tractography in the brainstem

Abstract

Constraining tractography according to a set of anatomical priors has become frequently used in tractography experiments. The advantage of this approach is that it ensures streamlines can only terminate in explicitly defined, anatomically plausible, regions. The brainstem poses a challenge as it is a complex structure with numerous subcortical grey matter nuclei embedded within white matter. The traditional brainstem segmentation relies purely on T1-weighted image intensity. This gives poor definition of the brainstem's grey matter.