Predictive value of fractional anisotropy changes of the corticospinal tract in the acute phase of ischemic stroke

Objective To evaluate the role of reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract detected by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as a prognostic tool to predict the outcome following an acute ischemic stroke. Background There are high costs and concerns about postischemic stroke disability worldwide. DTI is an emerging neuroimaging technique that allows us to measure the integrity of white matter tracts. The reduction of FA value detected by DTI can predict residual neurological deficit in the acute phase of ischemic stroke after 3 months. Patients and methods A nonrandomized, retrospective cohort study was conducted on 40 patients with acute ischemic stroke for the first time and 40 controls of healthy individuals. We assessed our patients according to the size of the infarction, stroke severity using the National Institute of Health and Stroke Scale (NIHSS), and degree of reduction of FA detected by DTI. Patients were followed up clinically using NIHSS after 3 months for residual neurological deficits. Results We observed a good association between reduction of FA value measured by DTI and clinical findings of acute ischemic stroke assessed by NIHSS at the time of onset and after 3 months (P = 0.004, 0.007), respectively. The reduction of FA value was measured by DTI, which is also correlated with the size of the infarction of ischemic stroke (P Conclusion Reduction of FA of the corticospinal tract was measured by DTI. The image could be used as a useful tool for predicting long-term poststroke disability after 3 months.