Clinical Evaluation of Cingulum Bundle Connectivity for Neurosurgical Hypothesis Development

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neuroanatomy
• Neurosurgery

Background:

• The cingulum bundle (CB) is a neurosurgical target for psychiatric disorders, but its network effects are poorly understood.
• Advances in human tractography offer potential for better understanding, yet its reliability is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess if diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) tractography can characterize human CB connectivity, comparing it to animal models.
• To validate tractography for clinical use and inform neurosurgical targeting for psychiatric conditions.

Main Methods:

• Compared DWI-based tractography in 15 healthy subjects to primate tract-tracing data.
• Utilized three tractography techniques: FSL probabilistic, Camino probabilistic, and Camino deterministic.
• Defined regions of interest to match the animal model for comparative analysis.

Main Results:

• All tractography methods reproduced animal tracing results with 72% mean accuracy.
• The rostral dorsal segment of the CB showed significantly higher connectivity than other segments.
• Statistical significance was observed for both accuracy and regional connectivity findings (P < .05).

Conclusions:

• In vivo human DWI tractography reliably replicates animal models for CB connectivity.
• Tractography of the CB is clinically applicable, potentially improving neurosurgical targeting for psychiatric disorders.