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Probabilistic tractography of the extracranial branches of the trigeminal nerve using diffusion tensor imaging

  • Advanced Neuroimaging
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

The peripheral course of the trigeminal nerves is complex and spans multiple bony foramen and tissue compartments throughout the face. Diffusion tensor imaging of these nerves is difficult due to the complex tissue interfaces and relatively low MR signal. The purpose of this work is to develop a method for reliable diffusion tensor imaging-based fiber tracking of the peripheral branches of the trigeminal nerve.

Methods

We prospectively acquired imaging data from six healthy adult participants with a 3.0-Tesla system, including T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery with variable flip angle (T2-STIR-SPACE) and readout segmented echo planar diffusion weighted imaging sequences. Probabilistic tractography of the ophthalmic, infraorbital, lingual, and inferior alveolar nerves was performed manually and assessed by two observers who determined whether the fiber tracts reached defined anatomical landmarks using the T2-STIR-SPACE volume.

Results

All nerves in all subjects were tracked beyond the trigeminal ganglion. Tracts in the inferior alveolar and ophthalmic nerve exhibited the strongest signal and most consistently reached the most distal landmark (58% and 67%, respectively). All tracts of the inferior alveolar and ophthalmic nerve extended beyond their respective third benchmarks. Tracts of the infraorbital nerve and lingual nerve were comparably lower-signal and did not consistently reach the furthest benchmarks (9% and 17%, respectively).

Conclusion

This work demonstrates a method for consistently identifying and tracking the major nerve branches of the trigeminal nerve with diffusion tensor imaging.

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Data availability

Image data will not be made available.

Code availability

The code written for this project will be made available upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by NIBIB P41 EB027061 and P30 NS076408. Personnel performing this research were also supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, grants TL1R002493 and UL1TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Kellen L. Mulford & Pierre-Francois Van de Moortele

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Sean L. Moen, David P. Darrow & Andrew W. Grande

  3. Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Donald R. Nixdorf

  4. Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Can Özütemiz

Authors
  1. Kellen L. Mulford
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  2. Sean L. Moen
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  3. David P. Darrow
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  4. Andrew W. Grande
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  5. Donald R. Nixdorf
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  6. Pierre-Francois Van de Moortele
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  7. Can Özütemiz
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Kellen Mulford and Can Ozutemiz. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Kellen Mulford, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kellen L. Mulford.

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No identifying information is presented in this manuscript.

Ethics approval

This retrospective study has been fully approved by our institution’s IRB and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Consent to participate

Our Institutional IRB granted a waiver of consent for this study due to its minimal risk to participants and retrospective nature. Individuals who have chosen to opt out of research studies were not included.

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Conference presentation: This work was presented at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine annual meeting in London, May 2022.

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Mulford, K.L., Moen, S.L., Darrow, D.P. et al. Probabilistic tractography of the extracranial branches of the trigeminal nerve using diffusion tensor imaging. Neuroradiology 65, 1301–1309 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-023-03184-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-023-03184-z

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