Corticospinal tract change in the unaffected hemisphere at the early stage of intracerebral hemorrhage: a diffusion tensor tractography study.
OBJECTIVE
Contribution by the unaffected hemisphere is one of the motor recovery mechanisms following stroke. We attempted to investigate changes in the corticospinal tract (CST) in the unaffected hemisphere at the early stage in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT).


METHODS
Fifty-three consecutive hemiparetic patients and 40 age- and sex-matched control subjects were enrolled. DTT was performed using a 1.5-tesla system at the early stage of ICH (7-28 days after onset). We measured the fiber number, fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient of CST tractography in the unaffected hemisphere, and assessed the motor function of the affected extremities.


RESULTS
The fiber number of the CST in the unaffected hemisphere of the patient group was higher than that of the control group (p = 0.000). In contrast, the fractional anisotropy value was lower than that of the control group (p = 0.018). However, there were no significant differences in the apparent diffusion coefficient values between the 2 groups (p = 0.654).


CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that the CST in the unaffected hemisphere was changed at the early stage in patients with ICH, using DTT.
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Taegu, Republic of Korea.
So Young
SY
Kwak
Sang Seok
SS
Yeo
Byung Yeon
BY
Choi
Chul Hoon
CH
Chang
Sung Ho
SH
Jang
D000368:Aged; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011712:Pyramidal Tracts / Q000473:pathology*