Volume 35, Number 5

October 2014

Letter From the Guest Editor: Brain White Matter Tracts

D

iffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is now a well-established neuroimaging technique within the research sphere but remains relatively obscure and underutilized in routine clinical practice. With this issue of Seminars in US, CT and MRI, my main aim was to demonstrate how this information can both inform our understanding of disease processes but more importantly how practising radiologists can use it to improve diagnostic performance. In my opinion, one of the most satisfying aspects of neuroradiology is neuroanatomical correlation, that is the ability to explain clinical presentation through understanding of anatomical structures affected by lesions identified on neuroimaging studies. Cortical topography is relatively easy to grasp but it is only through DTI that one can confidently identify the location of relevant white matter tracts in individual patients. To this end, the issue begins with the article by Gerrish et al demonstrating the normal anatomical structures routinely identifiable on clinical DTI and how this knowledge can be applied in multiple different clinical situations. The corpus callosum is easily identifiable on routine magnetic resonance imaging—Fillippi and Cauley explore how DTI is helping us in understanding its functional organization and how DTI studies in different diseases are illuminating its role in different brain functions. In the article by Lövblad et al, we see the range of pathologies that can affect the limbic system with a review of its

http://dx.doi.org/10.1053/j.sult.2014.06.002 0887-2171/& 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

white matter tract connections and how this influences clinical presentation. Hussain et al show us not only how DTI outlines the major ascending and descending pathways but also how it can be applied in prognostication of stroke recovery and diagnosis of devastating disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Swienton and Thomas show us how a functional anatomical approach, aided by DTI can improve lesion identification in disorders of the visual pathway. Prof M. Smits and colleagues provide us not only with a comprehensive review of both the normal anatomical structures involved in language and speech but also how DTI is helping to provide neuroanatomical correlates of subtypes of the primary progressive aphasias. Finally, the brainstem white matter tracts and control of eye movements are explored by Sakai et al—a location where even tiny lesions can have profound and interesting neurologic consequences. I would like to extend my thanks to Joel Swartz, MD, for the opportunity to edit this issue as well as all the aforementioned authors. In particular, I would like to thank Dr Rob Dineen, Associate Professor of Neuroradiology at the University of Nottingham, for inspiring my interest in both neuroradiology and neuroanatomical correlation. Adam G. Thomas, MSc, MRCP, FRCR Guest Editor

431

Letter from the guest editor: Brain white matter tracts.

Letter from the guest editor: Brain white matter tracts. - PDF Download Free
116KB Sizes 2 Downloads 8 Views