While this technology provides new information about the state of many tissues within the body, it is particularly informative when imaging fibrous tissues, such as tendons, and ligaments. The ability to measure these different rates of diffusion along different directions is one of the features that distinguish DT-MRI from other imaging methods.
DT-MRI was invented at the National Institutes of Health by Peter J. Basser, James Mattiello, and Denis LeBihan. According to Basser, DT-MRI provides novel, histological and anatomical information about tissue structure, composition, architecture, and organization. Changes in these tissue properties can often be correlated with processes that occur in development, degeneration, disease, and aging, so this method is becoming more widely applied.
Additional information and DT-MR images can be found at http://www.nichd.nih.gov.