title: Tract-specific white matter correlates of fatigue and cognitive impairment in benign multiple sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although benign multiple sclerosis (BMS) is traditionally defined by the presence of mild motor involvement decades after disease onset, symptoms of fatigue and cognitive impairment are very common.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the association between micro-structural damage in the anterior thalamic (AT) tracts and in the corpus callosum (CC), as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography, and fatigue and cognitive deficits.
  
  
  METHODS
  DTI data were acquired from 26 BMS patients and 24 sex- and age-matched healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  General and mental fatigue scores were significantly impaired in patients compared with controls (p≤0.05 for both) and 38% of patients resulted cognitively impaired. Mean diffusivity (MD) of the AT and CC tracts was significantly higher and fractional anisotropy (FA) was lower in patients compared with controls (p<0.001 for all). Fatigue was associated with increased MD (p=0.01) of the AT tracts whereas deficit of executive functions and verbal learning were associated with decreased FA in the body (p=0.004) and genu (p=0.008) of the CC. Deficits in processing speed and attention were associated with the T2 lesion volume of the AT tracts (p<0.01 for all).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that fatigue and cognitive impairment are quite frequent in BMS patients and are, at least in part, related to micro-structural damage and T2LV of WM tracts connecting the brain cortical and sub-cortical regions of the two hemispheres.
authors: Department of Radiology, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Maxim
authors: M
authors: Bester
authors: Mariana
authors: M
authors: Lazar
authors: Maria
authors: M
authors: Petracca
authors: James S
authors: JS
authors: Babb
authors: Joseph
authors: J
authors: Herbert
authors: Robert I
authors: RI
authors: Grossman
authors: Matilde
authors: M
authors: Inglese
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016880:Anisotropy; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013133:Spinothalamic Tracts / Q000469:parasitology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology
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