Ruth L. O'Gorman1, Laszlo K. Sztriha2, Gareth J. Barker3, Steven CR Williams3, Lalit Kalra2
1University Children's Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Clinical Neurosciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom; 3Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom
Structural remodeling of both ipsilesional and contralesional white matter tracts appears to be associated with improved motor recovery after stroke. This study investigated changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) in 6 recovering stroke patients and 7 controls in relation to functional outcome. Between 3 and 15 weeks post-stroke, FA in patients significantly decreased in the ipsilesional thalamus, corticospinal tract, and corpus callosum. Higher FA in the ipsilesional corticospinal tract, internal capsule, and lower FA in the ipsilesional thalamus and corpus callosum were associated with a higher motor outcome score, providing further evidence for the purported link between microstructural remodelling and recovery.