title: Diffusion tensor imaging of basal ganglia and thalamus in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the involvement of basal ganglia and thalamus in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) method.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fourteen definite-ALS patients and 12 age-matched controls underwent whole brain DTI on a 3T scanner. Mean-diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were obtained bilaterally from the basal ganglia and thalamus in the regions-of-interest (ROIs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The MD was significantly higher (P < .02) in basal ganglia and thalamus in patients with ALS compared with controls. Correspondingly, the FA was significantly lower (P < .02) in these structures, except in caudate (P = .04) and putamen (P = .06) in patients compared with controls. There were mild to strong correlations (r = .3-.7) between the DTI measures of basal ganglia and finger-tap, foot-tap, and lip-and-tongue movement rate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The increased MD in basal ganglia and thalamus and decreased FA in globus pallidus and thalamus are indicative of neuronal loss or dysfunction in these structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33136, USA. ksharma@med.miami.edu
authors.forename: Khema R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Sulaiman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sheriff
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maudsley
authors.forename: Varan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Govind
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*