Abstract #0277
Assessing white matter integrity with DTI in a large group of ALS patients
Robberecht W, Peeters R, Sunaert S, Sage C
University Hospital of the Catholic University of Leuven
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative condition of complex pathology in humans, primarily involving motor neurons in the cerebral cortex (upper motor neurons), the brainstem and the spinal cord (lower motor neurons). In this 3T study, using DTI (16 directions of diffusion, b=800 s/mm2) with voxel based statistics and fiber tractography, significant changes in fractional anisotropy (FA), diffusivity (MD), and DTI fiber count in a group of 33 patients compared to 21 healthy controls were observed in corticospinal tract, but also frontal and parietal white matter tracts projecting from/to the motor system.
