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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Role of Diffusion MRI Tractography in Endoscopic Endonasal Skull Base Surgery
Published on: July 5, 2021
Peripheral nerve tractography in soft tissue tumors: a preliminary 3-tesla diffusion tensor magnetic resonance
Gregor Kasprian1, Gabriele Amann, Joannis Panotopoulos
1Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image Guided Therapy, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Introduction:
This diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (DTI) study aimed to clarify the relationship of peripheral nerves and soft tissue tumors (STTs) in 3D to optimize subsequent treatment.
Methods:
Twenty-six consecutive STT patients (histologically malignant, n=10; intermediate, n=3; and benign, n=13) underwent 3-Tesla MRI using an echoplanar DTI sequence. Deterministic tractography was performed. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values were measured within peritumoral and distant regions of interest.
Results:
Tractography depicted the 3D course of the sciatic (n=12), femoral (n=2), tibial (n=7), fibular (n=2), median (n=1), musculocutaneous (n=1), and ulnar (n=1) nerves in a regular (n=8 of 18, 44.4%) or thinned (n=7 of 18, 38.9%) fashion. The lowest peritumoral FA values, abrupt thinning, and/or complete discontinuity of trajectories were found in 2 cases with histologically proven tumoral nerve infiltration.
Conclusions:
DTI clarifies the 3D topography between major peripheral nerves and STTs and may be helpful in the assessment of peripheral nerve infiltration by malignant tumors.
