Click on image to view larger version.
Fig 1. Color-coded representation of fractional anisotropy in the pyramidal tracts of a control subject (A), a patient with mild left hemiparesis (B), a patient with moderate left hemiparesis (C), and a patient with severe left hemiparesis (D). Lower fractional anisotropy values are seen in the affected pyramidal tract compared with the unaffected tract of the patients with moderate and severe hemiparesis. The patient with mild hemiparesis and the control subject show no appreciable asymmetry. Although the entire tract is shown from the level of the cerebral peduncle to the centrum semiovale, the analysis was limited to that portion of the pyramidal tract between the posterior limb of the internal capsule (outlined in green) and the cerebral peduncle (see Methods).
