Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques to Assess Brain Structural Abnormalities in Writer’s Cramp Primary Dystonia (P4.319)

TL;DRAbstract

OBJECTIVE: To investigate cortical and subcortical gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) patterns of alterations characterizing Writer’s Cramp (WC) primary dystonia. BACKGROUND: Several recent neuroimaging studies showed cortical thickening as well as WM damage in sensorimotor as well as extra-sensorimotor regions in WC, suggesting a complex network dysfunction playing a role in the development of dystonia. DESIGN/METHODS: T1-weighted and diffusion tensor (DT) MRI scans were obtained from 19 WC patients and 30 healthy controls (HC). Surface-based morphometry analysis was used to assess cortical measures. FMRIB-FIRST tool in FSL was used to segment basal ganglia on 3D T1-weighted images; then, volumes and DT MRI metrics were measured for each GM nucleus. TBSS was used to perform a voxel-wise analysis of DT MRI metrics. The effects of disease severity were examined by correlating GM and WM metrics with disease duration and WC severity scales. RESULTS: Increases in cortical area and volu

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