Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Cortex. 2013 Jan;49(1):301-11. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.08.006. Epub 2011 Sep 2.
We describe the case of girl who was born prematurely and diagnosed periventricular leukomalacia, a condition characterized by severe injury to the white matter tracts primarily surrounding the ventricles. At 12 years of age, we obtained diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data on this child as part of a research protocol. Multiple analyses of DTI data, including tractography, showed that the left and right arcuate and superior longitudinal fasciculi were missing in the child though all other major white matter tracts were present. Standardized psychometric tests at age 12 years revealed that despite early language delays, she had average scores on expressive language, sentence repetition, and reading, functions that have been hypothesized to depend on signals carried by the arcuate fasciculus. We identified intact ventral connections between the temporal and frontal lobes through the extreme capsule fiber system and uncinate fasciculus. Preserved language and reading function after serious injury to the arcuate fasciculus highlights the plasticity of the developing brain after severe white matter injury early in life.
我们描述了一例女孩的病例，该女孩早产，并被诊断为脑室周围白质软化症，这是一种以脑室周围的白质束严重损伤为特征的疾病。在 12 岁时，我们作为研究方案的一部分，获得了该儿童的弥散张量成像（DTI）数据。对 DTI 数据进行了多种分析，包括束追踪，结果显示该儿童的左右弓状束和上纵束缺失，尽管所有其他主要的白质束都存在。12 岁时的标准化心理测试显示，尽管她有早期的语言延迟，但她在表达性语言、句子重复和阅读方面的得分都处于平均水平，这些功能被假设依赖于弓状束携带的信号。我们通过极囊纤维系统和钩束识别出颞叶和额叶之间完整的腹侧连接。在严重的弓状束损伤后，语言和阅读功能得以保留，这突出了生命早期严重白质损伤后发育中大脑的可塑性。
