Abstract #4299
Alterations of Water Diffusion and Magnetization Transfer Metrics in the Brains of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients
Florian Borsodi 1 , Christian Langkammer 2 , Valeriu Culea 1 , Lukas Pirpamer 1 , Stefan Quasthoff 1 , Christian Enzinger 1,3 , Reinhold Schmidt 1 , Franz Fazekas 1 , and Stefan Ropele 1
1
Dept. of Neurology, Medical University of
Graz, Graz, Austria,
2
MGH/HST
Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical
School, Boston, MA, United States,
3
Div.
of Neuroradiology, Dept. of Radiology, Medical
University of Graz, Graz, Austria
Previous studies showed microstructual tissue changes in
the corticospinal tract (CST) of patients suffering from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but were
conflicting in their findings and their relation to
clinical function. In our study, we investigated
diffusion properties and magnetization transfer in the
CST and other major white matter tracts of 33 ALS
patients and 35 age-matched healthy controls, and how
they relate to disease duration and disability. We found
subtle but diffuse microstructural tissue changes in the
CST only, which caused a regional increase in the radial
diffusivity and a decrease of the magnetization transfer
ratio, but were unrelated to clinical findings.
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