Mapping the human connectome using diffusion MRI at 300 mT/m gradient strength: Methodological advances and scientific impact
Qiuyun Fan,
Cornelius Eichner,
Maryam Afzali,
Lars Mueller,
Chantal M.W. Tax,
Mathias Davids,
Mirsad Mahmutovic,
Boris Keil,
Berkin Bilgic,
Kawin Setsompop,
Hong-Hsi Lee,
Qiyuan Tian,
Chiara Maffei,
Gabriel Ramos-Llordén,
Aapo Nummenmaa,
Thomas Witzel,
Anastasia Yendiki,
Yi-Qiao Song,
Chu-Chung Huang,
Ching-Po Lin,
Nikolaus Weiskopf,
Alfred Anwander,
Derek K. Jones,
Bruce R. Rosen,
Lawrence L. Wald,
Susie Y. Huang
Affiliations
Qiuyun Fan
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Precision Instruments and Optoelectronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Cornelius Eichner
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany
Maryam Afzali
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK; Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Lars Mueller
Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Chantal M.W. Tax
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK; Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Mathias Davids
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
Mirsad Mahmutovic
Institute of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection (IMPS), TH-Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences (THM), Giessen, Germany
Boris Keil
Institute of Medical Physics and Radiation Protection (IMPS), TH-Mittelhessen University of Applied Sciences (THM), Giessen, Germany
Berkin Bilgic
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Kawin Setsompop
Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Hong-Hsi Lee
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Qiyuan Tian
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Chiara Maffei
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Gabriel Ramos-Llordén
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Aapo Nummenmaa
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Thomas Witzel
Q bio Inc., San Carlos, CA, USA
Anastasia Yendiki
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Yi-Qiao Song
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA
Chu-Chung Huang
Key Laboratory of Brain Functional Genomics (MOE & STCSM), Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China
Ching-Po Lin
Institute of Neuroscience, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan; Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Nikolaus Weiskopf
Department of Neurophysics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Felix Bloch Institute for Solid State Physics, Faculty of Physics and Earth Sciences, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Alfred Anwander
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neuropsychology, Leipzig, Germany
Derek K. Jones
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC), Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Bruce R. Rosen
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Lawrence L. Wald
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Susie Y. Huang
Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA; Corresponding author at: Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 Thirteenth Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
Tremendous efforts have been made in the last decade to advance cutting-edge MRI technology in pursuit of mapping structural connectivity in the living human brain with unprecedented sensitivity and speed. The first Connectom 3T MRI scanner equipped with a 300 mT/m whole-body gradient system was installed at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2011 and was specifically constructed as part of the Human Connectome Project. Since that time, numerous technological advances have been made to enable the broader use of the Connectom high gradient system for diffusion tractography and tissue microstructure studies and leverage its unique advantages and sensitivity to resolving macroscopic and microscopic structural information in neural tissue for clinical and neuroscientific studies. The goal of this review article is to summarize the technical developments that have emerged in the last decade to support and promote large-scale and scientific studies of the human brain using the Connectom scanner. We provide a brief historical perspective on the development of Connectom gradient technology and the efforts that led to the installation of three other Connectom 3T MRI scanners worldwide – one in the United Kingdom in Cardiff, Wales, another in continental Europe in Leipzig, Germany, and the latest in Asia in Shanghai, China. We summarize the key developments in gradient hardware and image acquisition technology that have formed the backbone of Connectom-related research efforts, including the rich array of high-sensitivity receiver coils, pulse sequences, image artifact correction strategies and data preprocessing methods needed to optimize the quality of high-gradient strength diffusion MRI data for subsequent analyses. Finally, we review the scientific impact of the Connectom MRI scanner, including advances in diffusion tractography, tissue microstructural imaging, ex vivo validation, and clinical investigations that have been enabled by Connectom technology. We conclude with brief insights into the unique value of strong gradients for diffusion MRI and where the field is headed in the coming years.
