NBII’S PROTOCOL FOR DIFFUSION TENSOR IMAGING

We can now see what we couldn’t see before.  NBII has invested over three years developing a dependable protocol to adapt the fluid dynamic principles of Diffusion Tensor Imaging to the diagnosis of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) – in particular, Mild TBI.  

WHAT IS IT?
DTI is a type of MRI sequencing which is based in part on fluid dynamics.  Water will behave the same in an ocean, river, stream or in the brain as long as gravity is present.  The body is about 60% water and the brain is about 80% water. With DTI, we pulse the brain from a variety of angles.  (There is nothing invasive – no dyes, no injections necessary.)  As we pulse the brain from each of 30 different angles, the magnetic pulse causes the fluid in the brain to move in the opposite direction.  As it moves, it travels along the tiny, microscopic white matter tracts of the brain. These tracts are like tiny canals and tubes, which are actually the brain’s “wires.”  Once we have captured this motion from our 30 different angles, we compile the data into a 3D model of the brain. Where there are no tracts, we can see the missing tracts in the brain.  Thanks to the more than 20,000 Peer Reviewed Studies on DTI, we also have widely accepted and understood quantifiable methodologies.

GLASGOW COMA SCORE?
The most common misconceptions about TBI is that you have to have a low Glasgow Coma score or you have to be knocked unconscious or you have to suffer a severe impact to the head.  With Diffusion Tensor Imaging, we now can see what we couldn’t see before.  There are more than 3 million reported TBI’s each year in the USA.  Over 90% of these reported injuries fall into the “mild TBI” classification.  “Mild” means, among other things, that you have no objective proof of the injury.  We can now provide proof of damage.  Traditional MRI is unable to detect the microcscopic damage in the brain’s white matter tracts (connective circuits and “wires” in the brain).