This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of brain developmental diseases, which is caused by insults during the developmental process. Depending on the timing and the type of the insult, anatomical defects and clinical manifestation are highly variable, which makes prognosis and prescription of treatments difficult. Therefore, a diagnostic tool, which can precisely delineate the brain anatomy, is highly beneficial. Although conventional MR imaging has been playing a crucial role to characterize the global brain anatomy, it has limitations to reveal detailed white matter anatomy. In this project, we designed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for the CP studies. Hypothesis is that the DTI can reveal the status of critical white matter tracts in the diseased brains, which is crucial information to characterize the CP. Three CP patients with periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) (age 4-6) and two age-matched control (4 and 8-year old) were scanned. The study revealed that the posterior part of the corpus callosum, corona radiata, and posterior thalamic radiation were the most severely affected white matter tracts. Although it has been postulated that the corticospinal tract (cst) is one of the most affected tracts, the study showed that the cst is relatively well preserved. This preliminary study indicates that the DTI can provide important information about the white matter anatomy. The results are to be published in Neurology (in press). In the next step of this study, correlation between affected white matter tracts and clinical manifestations will be studied by acquiring a larger database of CP
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