Shujuan Fan1, 2, Frank Y. Lee1, 2, Matthew M. Cheung1, 2, Zhongwei Qiao1, 2, Ed X. Wu1, 2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 2Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) often produces severe neurological deficits in survivors, which is closely related with secondary corticospinal tract (CST) injury. Rodent models of ICH have greatly promoted the understanding of histopathology underlying brain injury and were employed widely for exploring therapeutic strategies. This study investigated WD in pyramidal tract, as part of CST, after experimental ICH using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and T2-weighted imaging as well as with histological correlations. The results demonstrated DTI as a valuable tool for detecting WD in early phase and for longitudinal monitoring of its progress at different stages with more accuracy than T2-weighted imaging.