Differing patterns of cortical grey matter pathology identified by multifractal analysis in UMN-predominant ALS patients with and without corticospinal tract hyperintensity

The pathological hallmarks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are degeneration of the primary motor cortex grey matter (GM) and corticospinal tract (CST) resulting in upper motor neuron (UMN) dysfunction. Conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) shows abnormal CST hyperintensity in some UMN-predominant ALS patients (ALS-CST+) but not in others (ALS-CST –). In addition to the CST differences, we aimed to determine whether GM degeneration differs between ALS-CST+ and ALS-CST– patients by cortical thickness (CT), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and fractal dimension analyses.
Source: Journal of the Neurological Sciences - Category: Neurology Authors: Source Type: research