The Neurography Institute is the world’s leading expert source for Diffusion Tensor Imaging

• Brain Injury – when a routine brain MRI shows no abnormality
  • DTI can often reveal the actual injury that is invisible on standard MRI
    • why is this? – because DTI is the only method that can show the internal connecting tracts of the brain
    • the long thin nerve fibers of the brain’s “white matter” are the parts most subject to damage and disconnection
    • only DTI can actually see the nerve tracts of the brain
• Our team – has more than twenty years experience with DTI because Dr. Filler was the lead inventor on the original DTI patent (US 5,560,360) – that’s where the world’s first DTI brain tract image was published
  • Can DTI find the cause of cognitive deterioration?
  • When memories fade and mental capabilities seem to be diminishing – what’s the cause?
  • Often DTI can distinguish between different causes – normal aging versus more problematic and rapid diseases like Alzheimer’s
• Can DTI be used in a court of law to prove a brain injury?
  • The answer is yes – in the vast majority of cases
  • Increasingly a negative DTI may stand in the way of success for a plaintiff claiming brain injury
  • However a positive DTI – showing tract losses or disconnection can provide indisputable proof of the reality of an injury
  • Whether the injury to the brain came from a car accident, an assault, a serious trip and fall, or even from a surgical error – DTI can show the injury
  • Dr. Filler is also a practicing attorney, licensed in California, available to testify as an expert, or to represent some injured clients
  • Dr. Filler has experience handling “Daubert” or “Frye” type challenges where the other side tries to prevent the jury from seeing your DTI proof of brain injury
  • DTI images performed by the Neurography Institute are standard medical evidence
  • DTI images are also offered through Dr. Filler’s law firm – Tensor Law PC – where the images are privileged and confidential evidence
• How does it work?
  • From the patient’s point of view – it is just like any other MRI – you lie down and relax in the MRI scanner and an image is obtained
  • There is no injection, no pill to take, no preparation to drink
  • Claustrophobic? Our team can provide medications or even IV sedation if absolutely needed at our Santa Monica, California location
  • Can any scanner do this? Not all scanners are fully equipped. The 3 Tesla Siemens system at our Santa Monica site has powerful advanced DTI acquisition technology
  • The MRI physics is based on the diffusion of water along the main direction of a nerve axon. DTI can see the direction of diffusion flow in any part of the brain and so can see the fibers. When an injury occurs, the diffusion flow is disrupted at that location and DTI sees the disruption
• How are my symptoms and my injury matched to the findings?
  • Dr. Filler is a board certified neurosurgeon and can see you at the Institute for Nerve Medicine for an office visit to review the events that caused the injury
  • In the visit, he will identify the mechanics involved and also evaluate the types of deficits your are experiencing so that the image findings can be fully considered in the light of your individual situation

Read a medical paper by Dr. Filler on DTI entitled “MAGNETIC RESONANCE NEUROGRAPHY AND DIFFUSION TENSOR IMAGING: ORIGINS, HISTORY, AND CLINICAL IMPACT OF THE FIRST 50 000 CASES WITH AN ASSESSMENT OF EFFICACY AND UTILITY IN A PROSPECTIVE 5000-PATIENT STUDY GROUP” (PDF format)