Does motor deficit in children with cerebral palsy correlate with diffusion tensor metrics abnormalities in thalamocortical pathways?

Abstract Background Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of motor-impairment signs secondary to many disorders that interfere with early brain development and are usually related to white matter injury in children. Most studies are focused on the study of motor tracts, mainly the corticospinal tract (CST). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a reliable imaging modality providing an appropriate method of detection of white matter microstructure abnormalities. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between DTI observed motor CST injury, sensory pathways (thalamic radiations) injury, and motor functions. Results This study shows significant involvement (reduction in DTI fiber count) of the superior thalamic radiation (in severe cases) with atrophy of the anterior thalamic radiations (ATR) or posterior thalamic radiations (PTR) in most cases with a significant reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) and elevation in mean diffusivity (MD) values. In addition, the degree of motor affection shows a significant negative correlation with FA and a significant positive correlation with MD values. Diffusion tensor imaging shows a significant reduction in FA within the examined tracts between CP and control at the Rt CST, Lt CST, Rt corticothalamic radiation (CTR), and Lt CTR with significant cutoff values of ≤ 0.449, ≤ 0.472, ≤ 0.432, and ≤ 0.44, respectively. Conclusions This study demonstrates disruption of thalamocortical and corticospinal tracts in CP patients, which reflects that both sensory and motor tract affection have a valuable role in the pathophysiology of motor dysfunction in CP patients.