Abstract #4070

Longitudinal DTI of White Matter Injury in Experimental Intracerebral Hemorrhage

Shujuan J. Fan^1,2, Matthew Man Hin Cheung^1,3, Abby Ying Ding^1,2, Frank Yik Hin Lee^1,2, Zhongwei W. Qiao^1,2, Jian Yang⁴, Ed X Wu^1,2

¹Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging & Signal Processing, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; ²Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; ³Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering , the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, People's Republic of; ⁴Medical Imaging Center of the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China, People's Republic of

Previous animal MRI studies of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) mainly dealt with the changes of the hemorrhage and its surrounding areas, while white matter injury was poorly understood. Clinical studies have demonstrated that DTI metrics of the corticospinal tract (CST) could be utilized to predict the functional outcome of ICH. The present DTI study revealed irreversible Wallerian degeneration in pyramidal tract, as part of CST, within 3 days after experimental ICH. The characterization of longitudinal diffusivity changes of such degeneration could provide a comprehensive understanding of white matter injury after ICH, and further support the utilization of DTI for ICH prognosis.