Open AccessWhite matter measures correlate with essential tremor severity—A pilot diffusion tensor imaging study
Author(s) -
Nestrasil Igor,
Svatkova Alena,
Rudser Kyle D.,
Chityala Ravishankar,
Wakumoto Amy,
Mueller Bryon A.,
Bednařík Petr,
Tuite Paul,
Wu Xiang,
Bushara Khalaf
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.1039
Subject(s) - diffusion mri , white matter , corpus callosum , cingulum (brain) , psychology , essential tremor , fractional anisotropy , neuroimaging , physical medicine and rehabilitation , neuroscience , audiology , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology
Background An evolving pathophysiological concept of essential tremor ( ET ) points to diffuse brain network involvement, which emphasizes the need to investigate white matter ( WM ) changes associated with motor symptoms of ET . Objectives To investigate ET ‐related WM changes and WM correlates of tremor severity using tremor clinical rating scales and accelerometry. Methods Tract‐based spatial statistics ( TBSS ) approach was utilized to compare 3 Tesla diffusion tensor imaging ( DTI ) data from 12 ET patients and 10 age‐ and gender‐matched healthy individuals. Clinical scales, tremor frequency and amplitude as measured by accelerometry were correlated with DTI data. Results ET patients demonstrated mean ( MD ) and radial diffusivity ( RD ) abnormalities in tracts involved in primary and associative motor functions such as bilateral corticospinal tracts, the superior longitudinal fascicles, and the corpus callosum but also in nonmotor regions including the inferior fronto‐occipital and longitudinal fascicles, cingulum bundles, anterior thalamic radiations, and uncinate fascicles. A combined tremor frequency and amplitude score correlated with RD and MD in extensive WM areas, which partially overlapped the regions that were associated with tremor frequency. No significant relationship was found between DTI measures and clinical rating scales scores. Conclusions The results show that ET ‐related diffusion WM changes and their correlates with tremor severity are preferentially located in the primary and associative motor areas. In contrast, a relationship between WM was not detected with clinical rating scales. Accelerometry parameters may, therefore, serve as a potentially useful clinical measures that relate to WM deficits in ET .