Preliminary application of pyramidal tractography in evaluating prognosis of patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVE
To discover the practical value of pyramidal tractography in evaluating the prognosis of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients.


METHODS
Eight acute-stage patients with hypertensive ICH were studied. We used magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), applied white matter fiber tracking to deal with the raw DTI data, and thereafter obtained tractography data. The form, conformation, and spatial position of pyramidal tracts were observed, and the extent of injury assessed by measurement of continuity, integrity, and spatial displacement. Meanwhile, a 6-month follow-up survey was conducted to obtain patient neurological function index in order to analyze potential correlations with the tractography data.


RESULTS
Tractography accurately identified the number of white matter fiber tracts, which showed a positive correlation with neurological function outcomes.


CONCLUSIONS
Pyramidal tractography is able to clearly identify form, conformation, and spatial displacement range of pyramidal tracts, and therefore can effectively predict long-term neurological function outcomes for hypertensive ICH patients.
Qiu
T M
TM
Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, and Shanghai Neurosurgical Center, Shanghai, China. tiaming2100@sohu.com
Zhang
Y
Y
Wu
J S
JS
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D020299:Intracranial Hemorrhage, Hypertensive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods