Dear Anastasia & Michael,
Thank u for your answers (I attached my last email and your answers at the
end of this email.
I still want to specify my question. If I only want to extract FA values
using the following script (see script below), and I know that an angle was
applied during the dMRI scans, should I use the rotated gradient matrix ?
When I first analyzed 20 subjects with the gradient matrix that is
published for a T3 Philips magnet (I also read the gradients from the dicom
header - they were the same) I got reasonable results - but now I don't
know what to think of them...
__________________________________________________________________________________
source ~/Desktop/fs_script
dt_recon --i /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/I160.dcm --s
Anatomy0207 --o /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI --b
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/bvals.bval
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/bvecs.bvec
To check results, run:
tkregister2 --mov /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/lowb.nii
--reg /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/register.dat --surf
tkregister2 --s fsaverage --surf white --reg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/mask-tal.nii.reg --mov
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/mask-tal.nii
tkregister2 --s fsaverage --surf white --reg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa-tal.nii.reg --mov
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa-tal.nii
freeview -v /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa.nii
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/adc.nii
freeview -v /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/brain.mgz
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa.nii:reg=register.dat:colormap=heat:heatscale=.2,.2,1
tkmedit Anatomy0207 orig.mgz -aux brain.mgz -seg wmparc.mgz -reg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/register.dat -overlay
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa.nii -fthresh 0.2 -fmax 1
mri_vol2vol --mov /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/lowb.nii \
--targ
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/wmparc.mgz \
--inv --interp nearest --o
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/wmparc2diff.mgz \
--reg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/register.dat --no-save-reg
mri_vol2vol --mov /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/lowb.nii \
--targ
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/aparc+aseg.mgz \
--inv --interp nearest --o
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/aparc+aseg2diff.mgz \
--reg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/register.dat --no-save-reg
freeview -v /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa.nii \
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/aparc+aseg2diff.mgz:colormap=lut
mri_mask /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa.nii \
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/wmparc2diff.mgz \
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa-masked.mgz
freeview -v /usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa-masked.mgz
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/aparc+aseg2diff.mgz:colormap=lut
mri_segstats --seg
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/mri/wmparc2diff.mgz --ctab
$FREESURFER_HOME/FreeSurferColorLUT.txt --i
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/DTI/fa-masked.mgz --sum
/usr/local/freesurfer/subjects/Anatomy0207/stats/all_stats_fa-masked
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It'd be nice if things were that simple, but!
Although the pre-processing is done with FSL tools, tractography is done
with locally written code. Some gradient sets may appear to work with FSL,
but they won't work for us. For example, some dicom converters may perform
a L-R flip as preparation for feeding the gradient vectors into FSL. We
need the unflipped vectors because, instead of flipping vectors, we
convert both vectors and images to LAS orientation. This ensures that they
work both for FSL and for us, and that you can view things correctly in
both freeview and fslview, without the subject looking like it's hanging
upside down from its bat cave or some such awkward arrangement.
In the end, the best way of knowing that the gradient table is correct is
to run one example subject through and view the eigenvectors of the
tensors as lines to see if they're pointing in the right direction. (Even
though the tensors themselves aren't used for tractography, they're good
for troubleshooting.)
On Mon, 21 Jul 2014, Harms, Michael wrote:
>
> FS uses FSL tools under the hood, so you want to use the bvecs that are
> rotated into the axes of the scan.
>
> cheers,
> -MH
>
> --?
> Michael Harms, Ph.D.
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Conte Center for the Neuroscience of Mental Disorders
> Washington University School of Medicine
> Department of Psychiatry, Box 8134
> 660 South Euclid Ave. Tel: 314-747-6173
> St. Louis, MO ?63110 Email: mharms(a)wustl.edu
>
> From: Rotem Saar <saar.rotem(a)gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Freesurfer support list <freesurfer(a)nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
> Date: Monday, July 21, 2014 1:54 PM
> To: "freesurfer(a)nmr.mgh.harvard.edu" <freesurfer(a)nmr.mgh.harvard.edu>
> Subject: [Freesurfer] Diffusion analysis qs - gradient matrix
>
> Dear freesurfer experts,
>
> For diffusion analysis in freesurfer - I want to know which gradient
matrix
> freesurfer expects.
>
> The thing is - when I look at the gradient matrix created using a MATLAB
> script that reads the directions from the dicom header - I get one table,
> but the bvecs file created in MRIconvert (for converting dicoms to nifti)
> looks different.
>
> This is the situation when an angle is applied during the acquisition of
the
> dMRI scans, which means that each subject has its own gradient matrix.
>
> So my question is which table should I use for diffusion analysis in
> freesurfer? The one that was created from the dicom header or the one
> created for NIFTI format using MRIconvert ??
>
> Thanks
Rotem Saar-Ashkenazy
Department of Brain and Cognitive Science
Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, 84105
School of Social Work
Ashkelon Academic College, Ashkelon, 78211
Israel