Associations of Diffusion-Tensor Fractional Anisotropy and FIM Outcome Assessments After Intracerebral Hemorrhage.

Aim: This study aimed to clarify the associations between fiber tract degeneration evaluated by diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and outcomes following intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).

Methods: In total, data of 40 patients from our previously published reports were assessed. Acquisition of fractional anisotropy (FA) maps was performed using DTI 14-21 days after onset; tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used for the analysis. Mean FA values within the corticospinal tract (CST), the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and the uncinate fasciculus were extracted from individual TBSS data. By using multivariate regression analysis, ratios of FA between lesioned and nonlesioned hemispheres were modeled to fit outcomes assessed by Brunnstrom stage (BRS) shoulder/elbow/forearm, hand/finger, and lower extremity functions and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) motor and cognition scores.

Results: Multivariate regression analyses only took the CST data into the final models for FIM-motor (adjusted R = .145), BRS shoulder/elbow/forearm, hand/finger, and lower extremity outcomes (adjusted R = .485, .503, and .425, respectively). In contrast, only the SLF data were taken into the final model for the FIM-cognition outcomes (adjusted R = .177).

Conclusions: Fiber tract degeneration in the CST mainly affected motor-related outcomes such as FIM-motor and affected extremity functions assessed by using BRS, whereas that in the SLF associated with poorer cognition-related outcomes. These findings imply that, by using DTI, outcomes of patients after ICH may be predictable by assessing fiber tract degeneration in the CST and the SLF.