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Diffusion-tensor MRI-based skeletal muscle fiber tracking

Bruce M Damon, Amanda K W Buck and Zhaohua Ding

A skeletal muscle’s function is strongly influenced by the internal organization and geometric properties of its fibers, a property known as muscle architecture. Diffusion-tensor MRI-based fiber tracking provides a powerful tool for noninvasive muscle architecture studies, has 3D sensitivity and uses a fixed frame of reference. Significant advances have been made in muscle fiber tracking technology, including defining seed points for fiber tracking, quantitatively characterizing muscle architecture, implementing denoising procedures, and testing validity and repeatability. Some examples exist of how these data can be integrated with those from other advanced MRI and computational methods to provide novel insights into muscle function. Perspectives are offered regarding future directions in muscle diffusion-tensor imaging, including needs to develop an improved understanding for the microstructural basis for reduced and anisotropic diffusion, establish the best practices for data acquisition and analysis, and integrate fiber tracking with other physiological data.