White matter changes in primary dystonia determined by 2D distribution analysis of diffusion tensor images

Abstract

To determine brain tissue affected by dystonia by making group comparison of parameter-based diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) distributions of patients with control subjects. A 2D distribution analysis of mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy index was used for modeling brain tissues according to the inherent diffusion characteristics. Seven affected carriers of the DYT1 dystonia mutation and eight healthy control subjects were imaged for a previous study. We employed a 2D distribution analysis of all the diffusion voxels and a four compartmental brain model for group comparison of the dystonia subjects and controls. Our analysis showed disease involvement in the white matter of the patients. Excellent tissue characterization was achieved automatically using the 2D distribution analysis based on a physical brain model. This 2D analysis implicated white matter in dystonia and could be useful as a screening tool in diseases with unknown pathologies.