DTI fiber tractography identifying the thalamic ventralposterolateral nucleus

The purpose of this project was to preoperatively identify the thalamic ventroposterolateral nucleus by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-fiber tractography and confirm it intraoperatively. A variety of pain syndromes have been treated successfully with deep brain stimulation (DBS) by targeting the thalamic ventroposterolateral (VPL) nucleus. We found that DTI has the potential to identify the thalamic nuclei in individuals, which would be more accurate than automatic anatomical localization, and likely identical to intraoperative physiological testing.