Abstract #2639

Mohamed M, Barker P, Rimrodt S, Cutting L, Abel J

13 children with neurofibromatosis type-1 (NF1) and 17 healthy, age-matched control subjects were examined with neuropsychological testing and proton MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI). NF1 patients showed significantly lower NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho ratios in the thalamus (p =0.017 and 0.04 respectively) and in the parietal white matter (p =0.04 and 0.039 respectively) as compared to the controls. Also, there were multiple, significant correlations for NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho ratios with neuropsychological test scores. These data suggest that the thalami are a central site of involvement in NF1, and that widespread metabolic abnormality is a factor associated with cognitive impairment in NF1.