ALS Upper Motoneuron Involvement in DTI and VBM: a Longitudinal MRI Study

Extent and distribution of upper motoneuron (UMN) involvement in ALS has been described in post-mortem brains. Little is known about the development of UMN degeneration in vivo. Region of interest based analyses have suggested neuronal loss in central regions, and signal abnormalities were found in the corticospinal tract (CST) by computerized analyses in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Detection of cortical atrophy in the sensorimotor and frontal cortex and reduction of the anisotropy in the CST has been demonstrated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and DTI analyzed on a voxel-by-voxel basis. The aim of the…