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Voxel‐Based Analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Patients with Subcortical Vascular Cognitive Impairment: Correlates with Cognitive and Motor Deficits
Author(s) -
Kim Sook Hui,
Park Jun Sung,
Ahn HyunJung,
Seo Sang Won,
Lee JongMin,
Kim Sung Tae,
Han SeolHeui,
Na Duk L.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2010.00527.x
Subject(s) - medicine , fractional anisotropy , diffusion mri , magnetic resonance imaging , neuropsychology , white matter , voxel , dementia , cognition , radiology , vascular dementia , cardiology , neuroscience , disease , pathology , psychiatry , psychology
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Patients with small vessel disease show high‐signal intensity on T2‐weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images that represent ischemic cell damage. However, despite a similar degree of ischemic change, the amount and the severity of clinical presentations may vary. We investigated the clinical correlations of ischemic changes using voxel‐based morphometric analyses of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).METHODS Twenty‐seven MCI and 34 dementia patients were included who all had significant small vessel disease on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In all patients, neuropsychological tests, a rating on the Pyramidal and Extrapyramidal scale (PEPS) for motor deficits, and 3‐Tesla MRI including DTI scans were performed. Voxel‐based analysis of the fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity maps were computed.RESULTS Cognitive scores correlated with the DTI abnormalities in supratentorial areas with regional specificity according to each cognitive test. Unexpectedly, cognitive deficits in most neuropsychological tests, even in some frontal tasks, were associated with disruption of posterior white matter integrities. Motor deficits correlated with both supra‐ and infratentorial lesions.CONCLUSION Our findings suggest that in patients with small vessel disease who show cognitive and motor impairments, a specific distribution of fiber tract damage is more related with clinical deficits than is the severity of the total ischemia.