Ali Tabesh1, Jens H. Jensen1, Joseph A. Helpern1, 2, Rachael L. Deardorff1, Amanda C. Allen1, Jessica L. Barley2, Jonathan C. Edwards, 23, Leonardo Bonilha,<s
1Radiology and Radiological Science, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States; 2Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States; 3Comprehensive Epilepsy Center, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has shown extensive microstructural deficits in patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) extends DTI by enabling the quantification of non-Gaussian diffusion. This study aimed to assess the non-Gaussian diffusion signature of MTLE as measured with DKI. DKI scans were acquired from ten patients with left MTLE and twenty matched healthy volunteers and were submitted to voxelwise analyses. The results suggest that DKI measures showed appreciably more widespread limbic and extra-limbic system abnormalities than DTI metrics. The additional information provided by DKI may improve the clinical assessment of brain pathology in MTLE.
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