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AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

Published ahead of print on February 26, 2009
doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A1527

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American Journal of Neuroradiology 30:1142-1148, June-July 2009
© 2009 American Society of Neuroradiology

PEDIATRICS

Diffusion Abnormalities and Reduced Volume of the Ventral Cingulum Bundle in Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum: A 3T Imaging Study

Y. Nakata^a, A.J. Barkovich^a, M. Wahl^a,b, Z. Strominger^b, R.J. Jeremy^c, M. Wakahiro^b, P. Mukherjee^a and E.H. Sherr^b

^a Department of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif
^b Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif
^c Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif

Please address correspondence to Yasuhiro Nakata, MD, Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628; e-mail: nakatay-tky{at}umin.ac.jp; and Elliott H. Sherr, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, 533 Parnassus Ave, San Francisco, CA 94143-0114; e-mail: sherre{at}neuropeds.ucsf.edu

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC) exhibit cognitive and behavioral impairments that are not replicated by surgical transection of the callosum, suggesting that other anatomic changes may contribute to the observed clinical findings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the ventral cingulum bundle (VCB) is affected in patients with AgCC by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and volumetry.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twelve participants with AgCC (8 males and 4 females; mean age, 30 ± 20) and 12 control subjects matched for age and sex (mean age, 37 ± 19) underwent MR imaging and DTI at 3T. 3D fiber tracking of the VCB was generated from DTI and the average fractional anisotropy (FA) was computed for the tracked fibers. Additionally, the volume, cross-sectional area, and length of the VCB were measured by manually drawn regions of interest on thin-section coronal T1-weighted images. The Student t test was used to compare these results.

RESULTS: Compared with controls, subjects with AgCC demonstrated significantly reduced FA in the right VCB (P = .0098) and reduced volume and cross-sectional areas of both the left and right VCB (P < .001 for all metrics). The length of the VCB was also significantly reduced in the complete AgCC subgroup compared with controls (P = .030 in the right and P = .046 in the left, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with AgCC have abnormal microstructure and reduced volume of the VCB, suggesting that abnormalities in intrahemispheric white matter tracts may be an important contributor to the clinical syndrome in patients with AgCC.