Detection of Diffuse White Matter Damage in a Sheep Model of Blast-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury Using SS3T diffusion MRI

Motivation: Detecting diffuse white matter damage after blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is challenging, as conventional T1/T2-weighted MRI require careful examination to reveal subtle changes. Goal(s): Evaluate the effectiveness of the Single-Shell Three-Tissue Constrained Spherical Deconvolution (SS3T-CSD) model in identifying and characterizing diffuse-white-matter damage in a sheep model of bTBI. Approach: Implemented a dMRI processing pipeline using MRtrix3 and DSI-Studio to apply the SS3T-CSD model on high-resolution-diffusion-data from sheep subjected to controlled blast exposure. Results: The SS3T-CSD model successfully detected and localized diffuse-white matter damage not readily apparent on conventional imaging, showing decreased white matter integrity and reduced fiber-ODF peak values in affected regions Impact: This work enhances the detection of diffuse white matter damage following bTBI by utilizing advanced diffusionMRI techniques, enabling earlier and more precise identification of injuries that conventional imaging might miss, thus improving the potential for effective interventions.