Simple harmonic oscillator based reconstruction and estimation for three-dimensional q-space MRI

INTRODUCTION Based on the idea that water diffuses preferably along the axonal trajectories, diffusion-weighted MRI can be used to map the neural connections between different regions of the human body. Although most methods developed to map anatomical connections employ data at low-b values, there has been recent interest to extend the acquisition scheme to larger diffusion weightings to increase the accuracy and reliability of the connectivit y information [1,2]. Development of new analytical and algorithmic approaches based on single-shell high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) acquisitio ns has resulted in significant improvements in the quality of the reconstructed fiber orientation maps in recent years. In this study, we present a new method that maps the orientational preference of water diffusion from data acquired at several shells in q-space.