Wilburn E. Reddick1, Qing Ji1,
David C. Carver1, John O. Glass1, Jun-Yu Guo1,
Zoltan Patay2
1Division of Translational Imaging
Research, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States; 2Division
of Diagnostic Imaging, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN,
United States
We
investigated the feasibility and utility of performing DTI (FA, Dradial)
and multi-exponential T2 relaxation imaging (MWF, long-T2) to assess
differing degrees of myelin disruption early in the course of therapy for ALL
in two 4 year old patients with varying degrees of leukoencephalopathy.
Relatively low FA, increased Dradial, and decreased MWF were
evident in regions of the T2 hyperintensities. Long-T2 maps demonstrated that
one patient had more sever myelin and axonal damage than the other patient.
This study is the first to conduct DTI and multi-exponential T2 relaxation
imaging during ALL therapy and provides support for additional prospective
studies.