Constructing 3D Diffusion Tensor Imaging using DICOM Files Directly and Linear Interpolation

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a process to determine the diffusion of water molecules in the body, especially in the brain. This process can be used to extract the neural fibers in the brain. In this study, we proposed an approach for constructing three-dimensional (3D) DTI using Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files directly and linear interpolation to improve the quality of neural fibers extraction results. Based on the experimental results, the average amounts of neural fibers generated using our approach are 155534 fibers. Meanwhile, the use of Neuroimaging Informatics Technology Initiative (NIfTI) data that was widely used in recent studies resulted in an average of 117028 fibers. So that there was an increase of 38606 fibers or about 32.9%. In addition, the metadata of the DICOM file is still stored properly and can be used for further 3D image processing. The greater amounts of fibers indicate that the more complete the fibers produced and can be more helpful for doctors to check for abnormalities that may exist.