• Kai Liu, Teng Zhang, Winnie C W Chu, Vincent C T Mok, Defeng Wang, and Lin Shi.
• Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China.
• Neuroscience. 2017 Mar 6; 344: 15-24.

AbstractStructural connectome measurement combined with diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tractography allows generation of a whole-brain connectome. However, current cortical structural connectivity (SC) measurements have not been well combined with the vertex-wise multi-subjects statistical analysis. The aim of this study was to examine the feasibility of using group comparison vertex-wise analysis for cortical SC measurement. A fiber connectivity density (FiCD) method based on a combination of a diffusion fiber tracking technique and cortical surface-based analysis was used to measure the whole-brain cortical SC map (FiCD map). A public MRI dataset (GigaDB) was employed to evaluate the reproducibility of the FiCD method. For group comparison, 14 post-stroke patients (mean age, 68.36±7.33y) and 19 healthy participants (mean age, 66.84±8.58y) had FiCD measurement. The intergroup comparison of the FiCD map was performed using vertex-wise multi-subject statistical analysis. Reliability testing showed the mean intra- and inter-subject FiCD variability was 3.51±2.12% and 19.44±4.79%, respectively. The group comparison of the whole-brain FiCD identified cortical regions with altered FiCD values, and there was a spatial consistency between the cortical clusters with low FiCD values and the subcortical lesions of patients. This study demonstrated the feasibility of vertex-wise group comparison for evaluating cortical fiber connectivity density. The FiCD method has good intra- and inter-individual reproducibility, and accurately reflects the affected cortical regions in post-stroke patients. This method may be helpful for neuroscience research.Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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