Diffusion tensor imaging demonstrates focal lesions of the corticospinal tract in hemiparetic patients with cerebral palsy

The purpose of this study was to use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with fiber tractography (FT) to demonstrate focal lesions of the corticospinal tract (CST) in hemiparetic patients with cerebral palsy (CP) who showed no specific focal lesions on conventional brain MRI. Four hemiparetic patients wi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2007-06, Vol.420 (1), p.34-38
Main Authors: Son, Su Min, Ahn, Young Hwan, Sakong, Joon, Moon, Han Ku, Ahn, Sang Ho, Lee, Ho, Yu, In Kyu, Shin, Youn Jeong, Jang, Sung Ho
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anisotropy
Biological and medical sciences
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral Palsy - pathology
Child
Child, Preschool
Corticospinal tract
Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Diffusion tensor imaging
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Infant
Male
Medical sciences
Motor recovery
Nerve Fibers - pathology
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Paresis - pathology
Pyramidal Tracts - pathology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The purpose of this study was to use diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with fiber tractography (FT) to demonstrate focal lesions of the corticospinal tract (CST) in hemiparetic patients with cerebral palsy (CP) who showed no specific focal lesions on conventional brain MRI. Four hemiparetic patients with CP (three left hemiparesis, mean age: 2.5 years, range: 0.9–7.0) and four age-matched controls were recruited. DTI was performed using a 1.5-T system with a synergy-L Sensitivity Encoding head coil. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were measured using the region of interest (ROI) method. We estimated the asymmetric anisotropy index (AA) and asymmetric mean diffusivity index (AD) to evaluate the asymmetry between right and left CSTs. All four patients showed interrupted FT at the affected periventricular white matter (PVWM) level compared to that of the opposite side; this was not detected on conventional brain MRI and explained the hemiparesis of these patients. Compared to the data of controls, all patients showed significant AA and AD only at the PVWM level. DTI with FT demonstrated focal lesions at the PVWM level. We conclude that DTI with FT may be a useful modality for investigating focal lesions in hemiparetic patients with CP.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2007.04.054