CNRS, UMR 7060, LNRS, Université Paris Descartes (Paris-5), Paris, France.
J Neuroimaging. 2011 Jan;21(1):44-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1552-6569.2009.00409.x.
wallerian degeneration (WD) in descending motor tracts after stroke is described at the level of the internal capsule and the brainstem. We investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can detect degeneration in the lateral cervical spinal cord after stroke.
DTI at 1.5 T of the cervical spinal cord was performed in 4 chronic hemiparetic patients after ischemic stroke. Stroke lesions included the corticospinal tract. DTI was also performed in 12 healthy controls. Diffusion parameters were obtained for left and right (i) half and (ii) lateral spinal cord extending from C2 to C7.
relative fractional anisotropy (FA) in the lateral tracts on the affected side compared with the unaffected side (left/right) was reduced in stroke patients as compared with controls (P= .007). FA was lowest in patients with severe upper limb hemiparesis. Relative apparent diffusion coefficient in the lateral tracts was increased in the patients (P= .03).
this study provides preliminary evidence that DTI at 1.5 T can be used for identification and quantification of WD in the lateral cervical spinal cord in stroke patients. This may prove useful for prognosis of motor outcome after stroke.
脑梗死患者内囊和脑干水平的下行运动束发生沃勒氏变性（WD）已有描述。本研究旨在探讨 1.5T 磁共振扩散张量成像（DTI）是否可检测到脑梗死患者颈脊髓外侧束的变性。
对 4 例慢性偏瘫脑梗死患者进行颈脊髓 1.5T 的 DTI 检查，病变均累及皮质脊髓束。同时对 12 例健康对照者进行了 DTI 检查。对左侧和右侧（i）半脊髓和（ii）从 C2 到 C7 的脊髓外侧进行扩散参数测量。
与对照组相比，脑梗死患者患侧脊髓外侧束的相对各向异性分数（FA）与健侧相比（左侧/右侧）降低（P=.007）。上肢偏瘫严重的患者 FA 最低。患者脊髓外侧束的相对表观扩散系数增加（P=.03）。
本研究初步证实 1.5T 的 DTI 可用于检测和量化脑梗死患者颈脊髓外侧束的 WD。这可能对预测脑梗死患者的运动预后有帮助。
