MRI Study Of Structural Damage In Patients With Chronic Thalamic Infarction

PART ONE A DIFFUSION TENSOR IMAGING STUDY OFTHE SECONDARY DEGENERATION OF SOMATICSENSATION CONDUCTION FIBERS IN PATIENTS WITHCHRONIC THALAMIC INFARCTIONObjective To investigate the diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)characteristics of anterograde and retrograde secondary damage of the somatic sensation conduction fiber bundles in patients with chronic thalamic infarction using magnetic resonance imaging(MRI).Methods Twenty-eight patients with unilateral chronic thalamic infarction(TI group)and twenty-eight age and gender matched healthy volunteers(control group)underwent general MRI and DTI scanning.The post-processing analysis of DTI data were conducted with the software of FSL,the spinothalamic tract and central thalamic radiations were obtained and the DTI parameters of fractional anisotropy(FA)value,mean diffusivity(MD)value,primary eigenvalue(?1)and transverse eigenvalue(?23)of both the fiber bundles were calculated,and statistical analysis was performed.Result In the spinothalamic tract,the FA value[(0.40±0.13)×1 0-3]of the TI group was significantly lower than that[(0.51±0.06)×10-3]of the control group(F=26.826,P<0.001),while the MD value[(0.50±0.07)×10-4nmm2S-1]of the TI group was significantly higher than that[(0.40±0.13)×10-4nmm2S-1]of the control group(F=11.162,P<0.05),?1 value[(1.99±0.53)×10-4mm2S-1]of the TI group was significantly higher than that[(1.68±0.23)×10-4mm2S-1]of the control group(F=15.028,P<0.001),and X23 value[(1.22±0.64)×10-4mm2S-1]of the TI group was significantly higher than that[(0.81±0.25)×10-41mm2S-1]of the control group(F=18.736,P<0.001).The change tendencies of the diffusion indices in the central thalamic radiations were identical to the spinothalamic tract.Conclusion The thalamic infarction can not only result in anterograde damage of the conduction fiber bundle connected to thalamus,but also cause retrograde damage,and both secondary degenerations have the same DTI features in chronic period.PART TWO A TRACT-BASED SPATIAL STATISTICS STUDY OF THE STRUCTURAL ALTERATION OF WHITE MATTER IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC THALAMICINFARCTIONObjective To investigate the characteristics of structural alteration of white matter in patients with chronic thalamic infarction using magnetic resonance imaging(MRI).Methods Twenty-eight patients with unilateral chronic thalamic infarction(TI group)and twenty-eight age and gender matched healthy volunteers(control group)underwent general MRI and DTI scanning.The post-processing analysis of DTI data were conducted with the software of FSL using TBSS technology,and randomize formation in FSL was used to take the multiple comparison analysis and find the white matter fields which was different between TI group and control group.Result Compared with control group,TI group contained fields which involved significantly decreased FA with TBSS analysis,including the genu of corpus callosum,the splenium of corpus callosum and the posterior limb of internal capsule.Conclusion There are relatively extensive damaged white matter fields in chronic stage of thalamic infarction.