title: [Correlation between corticospinal tract degeneration through magnetic resonance imaging, and functional scale (ALSFRS) in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis].
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the corticospinal tract. ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRS) is a questionnaire that quantifies motor deficits, while diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) evaluates the integrity of fibers through the fractional anisotropy (FA). In the present study, seven ALS patients were evaluated by ALSFRS and immediately submitted to DTI, getting FA values in the following regions: cerebral peduncle (PC), internal capsule (CI) and the white matter under the primary motor cortex (M1), secondary motor cortex (M2) and somesthetic cortex (SI). A control group was constituted by twelve healthy individuals. FA values in patients were significantly lower when compared with controls, with a tendency to higher reductions in the right hemisphere and more inferior regions. Interestingly, FA values were reduced in somesthetic area. No correlation was observed between symptoms duration and FA values. Despite the correlation observed between ALSFRS scores and degeneration in PC and CI, our results suggest that this subjective scale is not a good parameter for the evaluation of the structural damage in encephalic portions of the corticospinal tract.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia / Neurocirurgia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Botucatu 862, 04023-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Larissa Nery
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Alexandre Vallota da
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Henrique
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Carrete
authors.forename: Francis Meire
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Favero
authors.forename: Sissy Veloso
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.forename: Marcelo Tavares
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Moneiro
authors.forename: Acary Souza Bulle de
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires