Background: This study was performed to assess changes in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) over time in patients\nwith amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).\nMethods: We performed DTI in 23 ALS patients who had two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at 6 month\nintervals and to correlate results with clinical features. The revised ALS functional rating scale (ALSFRSâ??R) was\nadministered at each clinical visit. Data analysis included voxelâ??based white matter tractâ??based spatial statistics\n(TBSS) and atlasâ??based regionâ??ofâ??interest (ROI) analysis of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD).\nResults: With TBSS, there were no significant changes between the two scans. The average change in FA and MD\nin the ROIs over 6 months was small and not significant after allowing for multiple comparisons. After allowing for\nmultiple comparisons, there was no significant correlation of FA or MD with ALSFRSâ??R.\nConclusion: This study shows that there is little evidence of progressive changes in DTI over time in ALS. This\ncould be because white matter is already substantially damaged by the time of onset of symptoms of ALS.
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