Ongoing Secondary Degeneration of the Limbic System in Patients With Ischemic Stroke: A Longitudinal MRI Study

• Published in: Frontiers in neurology 2019-03, Vol.10, p.154-154
• Main Authors: Haque, Muhammad E, Gabr, Refaat E, Hasan, Khader M, George, Sarah, Arevalo, Octavio D, Zha, Alicia, Alderman, Susan, Jeevarajan, Jerome, Mas, Manual F, Zhang, Xu, Satani, Nikunj, Friedman, Elliott R, Sitton, Clark W, Savitz, Sean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: chronic loss of gray matter; ischemic stroke; limbic system atrophy; longitudinal neuroimaging study; Neurology; secondary degeneration
• ISSN: 1664-2295; 1664-2295
• DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00154

Ongoing post-stroke structural degeneration and neuronal loss preceding neuropsychological symptoms such as cognitive decline and depression are poorly understood. Various substructures of the limbic system have been linked to cognitive impairment. In this longitudinal study, we investigated the post-stroke macro- and micro-structural integrity of the limbic system using structural and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Nineteen ischemic stroke patients (11 men, 8 women, average age 53.4 ± 12.3, range 18-75 years), with lesions remote from the limbic system, were serially imaged three times over 1 year. Structural and diffusion-tensor images (DTI) were obtained on a 3.0 T MRI system. The cortical thickness, subcortical volume, mean diffusivity (MD), and fractional anisotropy (FA) were measured in eight different regions of the limbic system. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used for clinical assessment. A mixed model for multiple factors was used for statistical analysis, and -values