DTI - DKI fitting: a graphical toolbox for estimation and visualization of diffusion tensor and diffusion kurtosis imaging

Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance images(DW-MRI) such as diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging(DKI) are widely used in understanding the complex cellular microstructures non-invasively. With the increased usage of DTI and DKI in the recent years, the need for software packages for processing magnetic resonance(MR) diffusion data has also gained much importance. We have developed a new graphical toolkit named 'DTI-DKI Fitting' which is an interactive software for processing diffusion MR images is presented for the first time. The features included in this toolbox are processing of 4D diffusion weighted data in formats such as Dicom and NIFTI, estimation of diffusion tensor and diffusion kurtosis parametric maps and visualization of those parametric maps. The toolbox is developed in Matlab as a stand alone application and main advantage being simple with minimal functionalities and user friendly. The functionalities of the toolbox are tested with multiple DW MR data acquired from normal subjects.