Beyond Lesion-Load: Tractometry-Based Metrics for Characterizing White Matter Lesions within Fibre Pathways

In multiple sclerosis studies, lesion volume (or load) derived from conventional T2 imaging correlates modestly with clinical assessment. Determining which specific white matter pathways are impacted by lesions may provide additional insights regarding task-specific impairment. Using diffusion MRI, we introduce a set of tract-based metrics that go beyond traditional load approaches and show how they relate to task performance (i.e., working memory, information processing verbal fluency) in cohort 40 patients sclerosis.