The fate of injured corticospinal tracts in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage: diffusion tensor imaging study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Little is known about the fate of the injured CST for a large number of patients with ICH. Using DTT, we investigated the longitudinal changes of injured CSTs in patients with an ICH. MATERIALS AND METHODS We recruited 45 patients with CST injury by an ICH in the supratentorial subcortical area. Two longitudinal DTTs were acquired: 1 within 30 days and the other after 3 months from onset. DTTs for the CST were classified into 3 types: type A, the CST was preserved around the hematoma; type B, the CST was interrupted around the hematoma; and type C, the CST did not reach the hematoma. RESULTS At the first DTT, the motor functions of type C were worse than those of types A and B (P < .01), and motor functions of type A were better than those of type C at the second DTT (P < .01). Of 14 type A, 2 changed to type B (14.3%) and 12 did not change (85.7%); of 12 type B, 11 changed to type A (91.7%) and 1 changed to type C (8.3%); of 19 type C, 3 changed to type A (15.8%) and 16 did not change (84.2%). CONCLUSIONS We found that the injured CST could change from the early stage to the chronic stage during the motor recovery phase in patients with an ICH. These results would be helpful in prediction of longitudinal DTT changes from the early stage to the chronic stage following ICH.