Patent ID: 7672790

Claim:
A graphics processing unit implemented method for fiber tract mapping from diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging data, said method comprising the steps of: providing a digitized brain image volume comprising a plurality of 3×3 diffusion tensors corresponding to a 3-dimensional grid of points; initializing a set of fiber positions in a 3D set of points, fiber displacements, and a posterior distribution for an updated fiber displacement in terms of the initial displacements and diffusion tensors, wherein said posterior distribution is exp ⁡ [ - ( λ ^ 1 - λ ^ 2 ) ⁢ ( v · e 1 ) 2 - λ ^ 2 ⁢  v i  2 + κ ⁡ ( v i  v i  ) T ⁢ ( v i - 1  v i - 1  ) ] , wherein c is a normalization constant, v i and v i−1 are, respectively, the updated and initial fiber displacements, e 1 is a dominant eigenvalue of the diffusion tensor at a given point, λ ^ 1 = 1 λ 1 wherein λ 1 is the eigenvalue associated with e 1 , λ ^ 2 = 2 λ 2 + λ 3 wherein λ 2 and λ 3 are the other eigenvalues of the diffusion tensor, and κ is parameter that characterizes how tightly said posterior distribution is dispersed about a mean direction; randomly sampling a set of updated fiber displacements from said posterior distribution; computing a new set of fiber positions from said initial fiber positions and said updated fiber displacements, wherein a fiber path comprises a set of fiber points connected by successive fiber displacements; accumulating connectivity values in each point of said 3D set of points by additive alpha-blending a scaled value if a fiber path has passed through a point and adding zero if not; and rendering said connectivity values, wherein said steps of initializing a set of fiber positions, randomly sampling a set of updated fiber displacements, computing a new set of fiber positions, accumulating connectivity values, and rendering said connectivity values are performed by a graphics processing unit.