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. 2023 Apr 25;102(17):e33604.
doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000033604.

Correlation between spasticity and corticospinal/corticoreticular tract status in stroke patients after early stage

Min Jye Cho  1 , Sang Seok Yeo  2 , Sung Jun Lee  2 , Sung Ho Jang  1
Affiliations

Correlation between spasticity and corticospinal/corticoreticular tract status in stroke patients after early stage

Min Jye Cho et al. Medicine (Baltimore). .

Abstract

We investigated the correlation between spasticity and the states of the corticospinal tract (CST) and corticoreticular tract (CRT) in stroke patients after early stage. Thirty-eight stroke patients and 26 healthy control subjects were recruited. The modified Ashworth scale (MAS) scale after the early stage (more than 1 month after onset) was used to determine the spasticity state of the stroke patients. Fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fiber number (FN), and ipsilesional/contra-lesional ratios for diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) parameters of the CST and CRT after the early stage were measured in both ipsi- and contra-lesional hemispheres. This study was conducted retrospectively. The FA and FN CST-ratios in the patient group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < .05), except for the ADC CST-ratio (P > .05). Regarding the DTT parameters of the CRT-ratio, the patient group FN value was significantly lower than that of the control group (P < .05), whereas the FA and ADC CRT-ratios did not show significant differences between the patient and control groups (P > .05). MAS scores showed a strong positive correlation with the ADC CRT-ratio (P < .05) and a moderate negative correlation with the FN CRT-ratio (P < .05). We observed that the injury severities of the CST and CRT were related to spasticity severity in chronic stroke patients; moreover, compared to the CST, CRT status was more closely related to spasticity severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(A) T2-weighted brain magnetic resonance images at the time of diffusion tensor imaging in representative subjects of the patient (56-yr-old male) and control (62-yr-old male) groups. (B) Results of diffusion tensor tractography of the corticospinal tract (CST) and corticoreticular tract (CRT): the ipsilesional CST and CRT of the patient showed discontinuations at the brainstem and subcortical white matter (arrows), respectively, with no such discontinuations in the control subject.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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