title: Disrupted thalamic prefrontal pathways in patients with idiopathic dystonia.
abstract: There are quantifiable abnormalities in water diffusion properties of the white matter in thalamic and prefrontal areas in patients with idiopathic dystonia (ID). However, it is unclear which pathways are disrupted in these patients. Using probabilistic tractography of high resolution DTI, we reconstructed thalamic prefrontal pathways in seven patients with ID and seven matched controls. Resulting fibers were registered onto the stereotaxic space and submitted to a voxel-wise statistical analysis comparing patients and controls. Patients with ID exhibited less thalamic prefrontal connections, particularly involving fibers traveling from the thalamus to the middle frontal gyrus. These results corroborate neurophysiologic findings of reduced and asynchronous thalamic prefrontal input, and emphasize the structural correlates of the pathophysiology of ID.
authors: Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
authors: Leonardo
authors: L
authors: Bonilha
authors: Paulien M
authors: PM
authors: de Vries
authors: Mark W
authors: MW
authors: Hurd
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Rorden
authors: Paul S
authors: PS
authors: Morgan
authors: Nada
authors: N
authors: Besenski
authors: Kenneth J
authors: KJ
authors: Bergmann
authors: Vanessa K
authors: VK
authors: Hinson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D020821:Dystonic Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*