Tract‐Specific Spinal Cord Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Friedreich's Ataxia

Background Spinal cord (SC) damage is a hallmark in Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Neuroimaging has been able to capture some SC macroscopic changes, but no study has evaluated microstructural SC white matter (WM) damage in vivo. Objectives We designed a cross‐sectional study to evaluate microstru...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Movement disorders Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 354 - 364
Main Authors:	Hernandez, Ana Luisa C.C., Rezende, Thiago J.R., Martinez, Alberto R.M., Brito, Mariana R., França, Marcondes C.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-02-2022 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:	Anisotropy Ataxia Cross-Sectional Studies Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods Dorsal columns DTI Friedreich Ataxia - diagnostic imaging Friedreich's ataxia Humans Magnetic resonance imaging Medical imaging Movement disorders MRI Neuroimaging Patients Pyramidal Tracts SCT Spinal cord Spinal Cord - diagnostic imaging Substantia alba White Matter - diagnostic imaging DTI Friedreich's ataxia spinal cord MRI SCT
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Summary:	Background Spinal cord (SC) damage is a hallmark in Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA). Neuroimaging has been able to capture some SC macroscopic changes, but no study has evaluated microstructural SC white matter (WM) damage in vivo. Objectives We designed a cross‐sectional study to evaluate microstructural integrity in SC WM tracts of FRDA patients using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) with an automated analysis pipeline. Methods Thirty patients and 30 matched healthy controls underwent 3 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We obtained cervical SC T2 and diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) acquisitions. Images were processed using the Spinal Cord Toolbox v.4.3.0. For levels C2‐C5, we measured cross‐sectional area (CSA) and WM DTI parameters (axial diffusivity [AD], fractional anisotropy [FA], radial diffusivity [RD], and mean diffusivity [MD]). Age, duration, and FARS scores were also obtained. Results Mean age and disease duration of patients were 31 ± 10 and 11 ± 9 years, respectively. There was CSA reduction in FRDA amongst all levels. Between‐group differences in FA, MD, and RD in total white matter (TWM), dorsal columns (DC), fasciculus gracilis (FG), fasciculus cuneatus (FC), and corticospinal tracts (CST) were present in all levels. FA and RD from TWM, DC, FC, and CST correlated with FARS scores, and in CST they also correlated with disease duration. Conclusion DTI uncovered abnormalities in SC WM tracts, which correlated with clinical features in FRDA. CSA and CST FA in C2 correlated best with disease severity, whereas DC FA showed the largest effect size to differentiate patients and healthy controls. SC WM microstructure is a potential neuroimaging biomarker to be explored in the disease. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
Bibliography:	Relevant conflicts of interest/financial disclosures Funding agencies This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) grants 2019/24240‐7 and 2013/07559‐3. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0885-3185 1531-8257
DOI:	10.1002/mds.28841