Motion Correction Algorithms for Pediatric Spinal Cord Diffusion Tensor Imaging

The purpose of this investigation was to determine a reliable motion correction method for pediatric spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and show effects of motion correction on DTI parameters in normal subjects and patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Images were corrected for motion using two types of transformation and three cost functions. Corrected images and transformations were examined quantitatively and qualitatively. FA and MD indices were calculated pre- and post- motion correction. Blinded evaluation of pre- and post- correction images showed significant improvement in corrected images (p<0.0001). Statistically significant (p=0.02) decrease in FA (14-21%) was found in post correction images for SCI subjects, while normals showed minimal FA reduction (<5%) and were not significant. Quantitative and qualitative analysis showed rigid scaled-least-squares registration to be effective and reliable.