# \[slicer-users\] questions Slicer Tractography

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicer-users-questions-slicer-tractography/167>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Tags:** diffusion, tractography\
**Created:** [April 21, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicer-users-questions-slicer-tractography/167 "2017-04-21T16:06:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ihnorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ihnorton/32/9_2.png) [@ihnorton](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ihnorton)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicer-users-questions-slicer-tractography/167/1 "2017-04-21T16:06:49Z")

</div>

`from MSc. Alberto Villagrán on slicer-users:`

Hello

I am working with Tractography module of 3DSlicer in wrist. do you have  
any protocol of Quality Assurance or validation of the represented tracts?

Thanks for your attention

Best regards.

MSc. Alberto Villagrán.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ihnorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ihnorton/32/9_2.png) [@ihnorton](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ihnorton)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/slicer-users-questions-slicer-tractography/167/2 "2017-04-21T16:15:17Z")

</div>

Hi Alberto,

Visual inspection of both tractography and the underlying tensor glyphs is recommended. For tensor glyphs, use the [Volumes module](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/Nightly/Modules/Volumes) to enable “Glyphs on Slices Display”:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/a/1/a16810acf219da1677cdd3a689d992453472a963.png)

As far as validation, that’s a complicated subject. Various groups have done ex-vivo work with tracers and comparison of histologically-derived white matter to tractography. Here are two papers that come to mind immediately, I’m sure you can find more by looking at the citations for these (and similar keywords):

> **[Comparison of fiber tracts derived from in-vivo DTI tractography with 3D...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17604650/)**
>
> Since the introduction of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) as a method for examining neural connectivity, its accuracy has not been formally evaluated. In this study, we directly compared connections that were visualized using injected neural tract...

> **[The Geometric Structure of the Brain Fiber Pathways](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3773464/)**
>
> The structure of the brain as a product of morphogenesis is difficult to reconcile with the observed complexity of cerebral connectivity. We therefore analyzed relationships of adjacency and crossing between cerebral fiber pathways in four nonhuman...
