Improved DTI-Based Skeletal Muscle Architecture Estimation via Diffusion Weighted Image Denoising and First Eigenvector Map Smoothing.

ABSTRACT: Skeletal muscle architecture-the internal arrangement of a muscle's fibers with respect to its line of action-is a major determinant of muscle function. In diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography, the first eigenvector of the diffusion tensor is integrated to create "fiber-tracts" that represent muscle architecture at the spatial scale of several fascicles. However, noise contamination of the images causes erroneous estimates of the first eigenvector that propagate during tractography, causing inaccurate architecture estimates at typical signal-to-noise ratios (SNR's). Although image denoising is commonly used, its effects have not been evaluated in skeletal muscle against known ground truth. Moreover, alternative strategies (such as smoothing of the muscle's first eigenvector field) r

SUBMITTER: Pineda Guzman RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12260482 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature