Aliya Gifford1, Kathy Zackowski2,3,
Joseph Wang2, Peter C.M. van Zijl4,5, Gerald Raymond1,3,
Seth Smith6,7
1Department of Neurogenetics, Kennedy
Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2Motion Analysis
Laboratory, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD; 3Department
of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; 4Department
of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD; 5F.M.
Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger
Institute, Baltimore, MD; 6Vanderbilt University Institute of
Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States; 7Department of
Radiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
Pathologic
changes in adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) are associated with the spinal cord
and characterized by primary distal axonopathy with secondary
demyelination. We hypothesized that
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics correlate with the disease severity
and neurological and physiological deficits.
Nine healthy volunteers and 40 AMN patients (20 M, 20 F) were imaged
at 3T. DTI-derived metrics were
measured for the upper cervical spine.
Functional measures of sensation were found to correlate significantly
(p<0.01) with diffusivity in the dorsal column. These results support a strong
structure-function relationship between the DTI-derived metrics of the spinal
cord and clinical dysfunction.
Keywords