Diffusion tensor imaging segmentation of white matter structures using a Reproducible Objective Quantification Scheme (ROQS)

Reproducible Objective Quantification Scheme (ROQS) is a novel method for regional white matter measurements of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters that overcomes the limitations of previous approaches for analyzing large cohorts of subjects reliably. ROQS is a semi-automated technique that exploits the fiber orientation information from the diffusion tensor in conjunction with a binary masking and chain-linking algorithm to segment anatomically distinct white matter tracts for subsequent quantitative analysis of DTI parameters such as fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient. When applied to 3-T whole-brain DTI of normal adult volunteers, ROQS is shown to segment the corpus callosum much faster than manual region of interest (ROI) delineation, and with better reproducibility and accuracy.