Hao Huang1, Tien Nguyen2,
Linsley Smith3,
1Advanced Imaging Research
Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United
States; 2Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center, Arlington, TX, United States; 3Department
of Neurology, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, Dallas, TX, United States
DT-MRI is sensitive to subtle white matter structural changes which play essential roles in motor dysfunction of children with Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP). The Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) can be used to quantify severity of this disease related to motor outcome. Few studies have been conducted to survey the entire white matte to find the most sensitive white matter region which can be used for early diagnosis. Our goal is to find an effective white matter biomarker most sensitive to the severity of motor impairment of HSP for early diagnosis.