Diffusion Tensor Imaging at the Crossroads: Fiber Tracking Meets Tissue Characterization in Brain Tumors

If my cursory and unscientific search of Medline is any indication, the growth of interest in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is showing no signs of slowing: entering “diffusion tensor ” in the search window yields 185 articles published in 2004 and100 articles published so far this year (through early June). Does this represent an “irrational exuberance? ” Is there a DTI “bubble? ” Such questions inevitably arise sooner or later in the lives of most new imaging tech-niques—at least those that get noticed—and DTI is no exception. Radiologists have spent so many years staring at grayscale images that we might be forgiven our excitement about a technique that provides some color for a change, useful or not. Nevertheless, the skeptics are already demanding statistical and his