Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface anatomy:technique comparison between flash and diffusion-weighted imaging

Objective To compare two methods 3D flash and diffusion-weighted images(DWI)in reconstructing the brain surface anatomy,and to evaluate their displaying ability,advantages,limitations and clinical application.Methods Thrity normal cases were prospectively examined with 3 D flash sequence and echo-planar DWI.Three-dimensional images were acquired with volume-rendering on workstation.Brain surface structures were evaluated and scored by a group of doctors.Results Main structures of brain surface were clearly displayed on three-dimensional images based on 3D flash sequence.Average scores were all above 2.50.For images based on DWI,precentral gyrus,postcentral gyrus,superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus,precentral sulcus,central sulcus,postcentral sulcus,intraparietal sulcus and superior frontal sulcus were best shown with average scores between 2.60-2.75,However,supramarginal gyrus, angular gyurs,middle frontal gyrus,inferior frontal gyrus,superior temporal gyrus,lateral sulcus,inferior frontal sulcus could not be well shown,with average scores between 1.67-2.48.Middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus,superior temporal sulcus and inferior temporal sulcus can only get scores from 0.88 to 1.27.Scores of images based on 3D flash were much higher than that based on DWI with distinct differentiations,P values were all below 0.01.Conclusion Three-dimensional images based on 3D flash can really display brain surface structures.It is very useful for anatomic researches.Three-dimensional reconstruction of brain surface based on DWI is a worthy technique to display brain surface anatomy, especially for frontal and parietal structures.