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Abstract #3741

Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging of the Motor Cortex in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Thomas Welton1, Fraser Callaghan1, Jerome J Maller2, Matthew Middione3, R Marc Lebel4, Ek T Tan5, Dominic B Rowe6, Ajit Shankar3, and Stuart M Grieve1,7

1Sydney Translational Imaging Laboratory, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 2GE Healthcare, Richmond, Australia, 3GE Healthcare, Palo Alto, CA, United States, 4GE Healthcare, Calgary, AB, Canada, 5GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, United States, 6MND Research Centre, Sydney, Australia, 7Department of Radiology, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterised by degeneration of the motor neurons. Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) may be a suitable biomarker for neuronal injury in ALS. We imaged 30 people with ALS and 63 controls with a 140-direction DKI protocol and explored group differences diffusion and kurtosis scalar values within the motor cortex. Our preliminary data show that significant microstructural changes are measurable by DKI in people with early ALS. DKI may represent a viable biomarker of early ALS progression.

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