ECR 2014: Diffusion tensor imaging predicts motor function recovery following stroke

VIENNA—Stroke victims often lose significant motor function as a result of acute ischemic attacks. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has the potential to predict just how much of that motor function patients will likely recover over time, according to a scientific presentation at the 2014 European Congress of Radiology (ECR).

Taisiya Popova, MD, co-author of the study from the Research Center for Neurology at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences in Moscow, detailed the technique used to visualize these odds based on changes in corticospinal tracts after ischemic stroke (IS). A total of 47 patients were imaged at different points after the suffered stroke. Scans were taken on days 1, 14 and 21 after onset.

A method of functional imaging called fractional anisotropy was used to evaluate the corticospinal tracts of patients, and baseline and follow-up MR spectroscopy and the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale were used to determine overall neurologic condition as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory. Results split the study population in roughly half between the two groups. Those who were deemed unsatisfactory maintained changes in the posterior limb of the internal capsule and cerebral peduncle.

“DTI allows us to assess changes in conduction tracts beyond the stroke zone during acute period of ischemic stroke,” concluded Popova. “Significant alterations of corticospinal tracts are identified using DTI by the second week from onset.”

These alterations were present in subjects that did not gain back a satisfactory amount of motor function. Therefore, DTI of the corticospinal tracts could potentially be used after 14 days from the point of stroke to predict subsequent motor recovery.