Clinical application of diffusion tensor tractography in patients with brain tumors involving pyramidal tracts

Objective To explore the role of diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) in the study of normal anatomy of pyramidal tract and preoperative planning and functional outcome evaluation of the patients with brain tumors involving pyramidal tracts. Methods Two volunteers and twenty patients with brain tumors involving pyramidal tracts were included. They underwent DTT examination preoperation. The pyramidal tract′s structure, course, shifting and its spatial relationships with the adjacent tumors were judged according to the result of DTT. Results The normal structure of cerebral pyramidal tracts and the relationship between the pyramidal tracts and the tumor were successfully displayed. In twenty patients, six cases were simple displacement, four cases were simple disruption. Other ten cases were displacement with disruption. Conclusions DDT can display the normal structure of cerebral pyramidal tracts and exact relationship between pyramidal tracts and tumors. It provides a basis for optimizing micro-surgery programs and improving the quality of patients′ life postoperative.