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Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Basal Ganglia and Thalamus in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Author(s) -
Sharma Khema R.,
Sheriff Sulaiman,
Maudsley Andrew,
Govind Varan
Publication year - 2013
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.1552-6569.2011.00679.x
Subject(s) - putamen , basal ganglia , thalamus , fractional anisotropy , medicine , globus pallidus , diffusion mri , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , anatomy , neuroscience , pathology , central nervous system , magnetic resonance imaging , psychology , radiology , disease
PURPOSE To assess the involvement of basal ganglia and thalamus in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) method. METHODS Fourteen definite‐ALS patients and 12 age‐matched controls underwent whole brain DTI on a 3T scanner. Mean‐diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were obtained bilaterally from the basal ganglia and thalamus in the regions‐of‐interest (ROIs). RESULTS The MD was significantly higher ( P < .02) in basal ganglia and thalamus in patients with ALS compared with controls. Correspondingly, the FA was significantly lower ( P < .02) in these structures, except in caudate ( P = .04) and putamen ( P = .06) in patients compared with controls. There were mild to strong correlations ( r = .3−.7) between the DTI measures of basal ganglia and finger‐tap, foot‐tap, and lip‐and‐tongue movement rate. CONCLUSIONS The increased MD in basal ganglia and thalamus and decreased FA in globus pallidus and thalamus are indicative of neuronal loss or dysfunction in these structures.