Image correction for diffusion tensor imaging of Rhesus monkey thoracic spinal cord.
BACKGROUND
The relatively tiny spinal cord of non-human primate (NHP) causes increased challenge in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) post-processing. This study aimed to establish a reliable correction strategy applied to clinical DTI images of NHP.


METHODS
Six normal and partial spinal cord injury (SCI) rhesus monkeys underwent 3T MR scanning. A correction strategy combining multiple iterations and non-rigid deformation was used for DTI image post-processing. Quantitative evaluations were then conducted to investigate effects of distortion correction.


RESULTS
After correction, longitudinal geometric distortion, global distortion, and residual distance errors were all significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Fractional anisotropy at the injured site was remarkably lower than that at the contralateral site (P = 0.0488) and was substantially lower than those at the adjacent superior (P = 0.0157) and inferior (P = 0.0128) areas at the same side.


CONCLUSIONS
Our image correction strategy can improve the quality of the DTI images of NHP thoracic cords, contributing to the development of SCI preclinical research.
['Rao|Jia-Sheng|JS|0000-0002-5196-0912', 'Liu|Zuxiang|Z|', 'Zhao|Can|C|', 'Wei|Rui-Han|RH|', 'Liu|Ruo-Xi|RX|', 'Zhao|Wen|W|', 'Zhou|Xia|X|', 'Tian|Peng-Yu|PY|', 'Yang|Zhao-Yang|ZY|', 'Li|Xiao-Guang|XG|0000-0002-6557-9688']
D000818:Animals D016477:Artifacts D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging D005260:Female D008253:Macaca mulatta D013116:Spinal Cord D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries
non-human primates spinal cord injury image correction strategy preclinical research