Abstract #3196

Diffusion Tensor Tractogrpahy Quantification of Wallerian Degeneration of the Uncinate Fasciculus in Multiple Sclerosis

Khader M. Hasan¹, Arash Kamali², Amal Iftikhar¹, Sushmita Datta¹, Flavia Nelson³, Jerry S. Wolinsky¹, Ponnada A. Narayana¹

¹Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA; ²Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Health Science Center at Hosuton, Houston, TX, USA; ³Neurology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

Previous multiple sclerosis studies have not considered association pathways such as the uncinate fasciculus (UF) which is the largest white matter pathway that directly connects temporal and frontal lobe. The UF has been implicated in several clinical DTI studies using two-dimensional regions-of-interest which could not reliably assess the entire 3D tract. In this report, we demonstrate using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) of the normal-appearing uncinate fasciculus (UF) combined with whole brain lesion load measurements, the utility of DTI tractography in quantifying hallmarks of Wallerian degeneration in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS).