Abstract #3660

Postoperative Cerebral White Matter Changes in Diffusion Anisotropy Associated with Alterations in Cognitive Function After Carotid Endarterectomy: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Study

Kenji Ito¹, Kuniaki Ogasawara², Masakazu Kobayashi², Makoto Sasaki¹, Kohsuke Kudo¹, Fumio Yamashita¹, Satomi Higuchi¹, Jonathan Goodwin¹, Ikuko Uwano¹, Suguru Yokosawa¹

¹Division of Ultrahigh Field MRI, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Iwate, Japan; ²Department of Neurosurgery, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Iwate, Japan

This study investigated cerebral white matter (WM) changes in diffusion fractional anisotropy (FA), which are associated with altered cognitive function after carotid endarterectomy (CEA), by applying tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). In 11 patients showing postoperative improvement in cognitive function, the mean FA values in the cerebral WM significantly increased after CEA, but no significant changes were found in 78 other patients. Furthermore, FA values in the bilateral frontal WM increased after CEA in patients with improved cognition. TBSS can detect bilateral increases in FA values in the frontal WM, and these increases are associated with cognitive improvement after CEA.