title: White matter tracts of speech and language.
abstract: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to investigate the white matter (WM) tracts underlying the perisylvian cortical regions known to be associated with language function. The arcuate fasciculus is composed of 3 segments (1 long and 2 short) whose separate functions correlate with traditional models of conductive and transcortical motor or sensory aphasia, respectively. DTI mapping of language fibers is useful in presurgical planning for patients with dominant hemisphere tumors, particularly when combined with functional magnetic resonance imaging. DTI has found damage to language networks in stroke patients and has the potential to influence poststroke rehabilitation and treatment. Assessment of the WM tracts involved in the default mode network has been found to correlate with mild cognitive impairment, potentially explaining language deficits in patients with apparently mild small vessel ischemic disease. Different patterns of involvement of language-related WM structures appear to correlate with different clinical subtypes of primary progressive aphasias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Erasmus MC-University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Electronic address: marion.smits@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smits
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC-University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lize C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Jiskoot
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Erasmus MC-University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Janne M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Papma
mesh_terms: D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D013060:Speech; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*