Injury of fornix in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.

OBJECTIVES

Many diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) studies have reported on fornix injury in various diseases. However, there has been no DTT study on fornix injury by intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). We attempted to investigate fornix body injury in patients with ICH, using DTT.

METHODS

We identified 58 consecutive stroke patients using the following criteria: (1) first-ever stroke, (2) age: 45-65 years, (3) hemorrhage confined within the corona radiata and basal ganglion level, (4) an available DTT scan performed during the early stage of ICH (1-5 weeks after onset). Among 58 consecutive patients, we identified six patients who showed disruption at the fornix body.

RESULTS

Following ICH, 10.7% of patients revealed complete disruption of the fornix body on DTT. Results from DTT of the fornix showed disruption in anterior and posterior portions of the fornix body in three patients, in the anterior portion of the fornix body in two patient, and in the posterior portion of the fornix body in one patient.

CONCLUSIONS

We report on six patients who showed complete disruption of the fornix body following ICH. It is our belief that the fornix of patients with ICH could be evaluated using DTT.