Samuel Groeschel1, J.-Donald Tournier2,
Gemma Northam3, Torsten Baldeweg3, John Wyatt4,
Brigitte Vollmer5,6, Alan Connelly2
1Experimental Pediatric
Neuroimaging & Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, University
Children's Hospital, Tuebingen, Germany; 2Brain Research Institute,
Melbourne, Australia; 3UCL Institute of Child Health, London,
United Kingdom; 4UCL Hospitals, London, United Kingdom; 5Karolinska
Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; 6University of Southampton, United
Kingdom
The objective of the present study is to investigate diffusion parameters along motor pathways in adolescents born preterm. HARDI data of 45 preterm adolescents and 31 term-born controls were analysed using Constrained Spherical Deconvolution and a probabilistic tracking algorithm. The major finding in this study is that disruption of WM microstructure in a single fibre region with resulting higher radial diffusivity leads to lower FA, whereas selective disruption of one fibre population in a crossing fibre region may lead to higher FA. These findings challenge the common simplistic interpretation of FA as a measure of WM tract integrity.