Quantification of normal-appearing white matter tract integrity in multiple sclerosis: a diffusion kurtosis imaging study.

ABSTRACT: Our aim was to characterize the nature and extent of pathological changes in the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) using novel diffusion kurtosis imaging-derived white matter tract integrity (WMTI) metrics and to investigate the association between these WMTI metrics and clinical parameters. Thirty-two patients with relapsing-remitting MS and 19 age- and gender-matched healthy controls underwent MRI and neurological examination. Maps of mean diffusivity, fractional anisotropy and WMTI metrics (intra-axonal diffusivity, axonal water fraction, tortuosity and axial and radial extra-axonal diffusivity) were created. Tract-based spatial statistics analysis was performed to assess for differences in the NAWM between patients and controls. A region of i

SUBMITTER: de Kouchkovsky I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5369414 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature