Abstract #0857

Diffusion Tensor & Kurtosis Metrics Along the Corticospinal Tract in Patients with Intracranial Tumors Show Complex WM Involvement

Danielle Van Westen¹, Filip Szczepankiewicz²,³, Markus Nilsson², Freddy Sthlberg², Jimmy Ltt¹, Pia C. Sundgren³

¹Center for Medical Imaging and Physiology, Skane University Hospital, Lund, Sweden; ²Department of Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden; ³Diagnostic Radiology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

The usefulness of DTI- and DKI-metrics along the corticospinal tract (CST) for demonstrating white matter (WM) involvement in patients with intracranial tumors was evaluated by comparing estimates in patients and healthy controls. Edema, displacement, and infiltration of the CST significantly affected the metrics along the CST in the vicinity of intracranial tumor in individual patients. However, findings were complex and a larger material is required to assess the sensitivity of DTI- and DKI-metrics and possibly redefine the criteria for the each type of WM involvement; patterns described for visual assessment did not fully account for WM involvement.