Pediatrics

Biography

Biography: Poster 4: Dr Tung Van Nguyen

Abstract

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) affects movement and posture is caused by brain damage before, during, or after birth [1]. Accurate assessment of neurological damage and their relationship to motor dysfunction levels are important for the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of cerebral palsy. Objestives:To evaluate the correlation between DTI parameters of each pyramidal tract with the GMFCS level in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Materials and Methods: Descriptive study of 44 children with spastic cerebral palsy from 2 to 12 years were recruited at Rehabilitation Department from 10/2015 to 8/2017. We evaluated clinical characteristics and the distribution of Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels [5]. All participants were studied with brain conventional MRI findings and the following three diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters including tractography for each pyramidal tract: fibre number (FN), fractional anisotropy (FA) and Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) [3]. Results: In 44 children with spastic CP mean age: 4.5 ± 2.1y; mean gestational age: 35.34 ± 4.6 wks. Clinically, 22 (50.0%) had quadriplegia, 15 (34.1%) had diplegia and 7 (15.9%) hemiplegia. The distribution of GMFCS levels: 25 (56.8%) level II, 13 (29.8%) level III and 6 (13.6%) level IV. Brain conventional MRI scans showed that 33 (75%) abnormal findings, within periventricular white-matter damage was the hinghest finding 27 (61.4%), and only 11 (25%) normal MRI findings. The FA values of both tracts < 0.05. Conclusions: The DTI (FN, FA and ADC) parameters of each pyramidal tract were significantly correlated with GMFCS levels in children with spastic cerebral palsy (p < 0.001). Keywords: spastic cerebral palsy, diffusion tensor imaging, pyramidal tract.