John O. Glass1,
Robert J. Ogg1, Yimei Li2, Amar Gajjar3,
Wilburn E. Reddick1
1Radiological
Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States; 2Biostatistics,
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States; 3Oncology,
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States
This study compared white matter (WM) development of 103 patients with 616 examinations to 56 normal healthy age-similar controls with 166 examinations. Conventional imaging was collected to assess WM volume, and fractional anisotropy (FA) maps were calculated from diffusion tensor imaging. A generalized estimating equation was used to model the normal developmental trajectories between groups. Relationships between age and WM volume and FA were seen in all regions, and differences between patients and controls were detected for FA and frontal WM volume. Typical maturation of frontal lobe myelination is disrupted in patients treated for pediatric infratentorial brain tumors.