Inga Koerte MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

David Kaufmann, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Paula Pelavin, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Maximilian F. Reiser MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Martha Shenton, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Birgit Betina Ertl-Wagner MD, Abstract Co-Author: Scientific Advisory Board, Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV

Ryan Eckbo, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Yogesh Rathi, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Marek R. Kubicki MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Florian Heinen, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

The degree of anisotropy in a fiber tract investigated by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) may correlate with the degree of myelination and/or the number of axons and thus serve as a parameter of the tract´s functional efficiency. We aimed to investigate professional soccer players, who specifically practice their lower extremities, with an advanced two-tensor algorithm, to test the hypothesis that continuous and intensive practice of a specific motor function leads to differences in the FA of the respective fiber tracts and to an altered interhemispheric connectivity.

We examined 15 professional soccer players (all male, mean age 24.6 years, range 20-28 years) on a 3T scanner. In addition to a 3D T1- and T2-weighted sequence, diffusion-weighted images were acquired using an echo planar imaging sequence (TR 11500ms /TE 107ms / resolution 1.7mm³ /64 diffusion directions / b ϭ 1000 / acquisition time 15 min). Structural MRI scans were analyzed using the FreeSurfer software package. Structural parcellations were registered to the diffusion scan and regions of interest were extracted and edited manually in 3DSlicer. In order to track the TCMF of the upper and lower extremities a two-tensor method was used because single-tensor tractography often misses lateral branches from the corpus callosum.

The two tensor algorithm allowed for a reliable tracking of the transcallosal fiber tracts of both the upper and the lower extremities in all subjects. Analysis of the FA values of the respective transcallosal fiber tracts revealed a significantly lower FA of the upper extremity fibers as compared to the lower extremities fibers (p<0.002).

The two tensor data analysis algorithm allowed a refined separate tractography and assessment of transcallosal motor fibers of the upper and lower extremities despite the problem of the crossing corticospinal tract. The analysis of these transcallosal motor tracts demonstrated a higher FA for the lower extremity tracts in the professional soccer players indicating differences in the interhemispheric connectivity between different subregions of the motor cortex.

This method may serve as a diagnostic tool in order to differentiate interhemispheric connectivity between different subregions of the motor cortex.

Koerte, I, Kaufmann, D, Pelavin, P, Reiser, M, Shenton, M, Ertl-Wagner, B, Eckbo, R, Rathi, Y, Kubicki, M, Heinen, F, Differentiation of Transcallosal Motor Fibers of the Upper and Lower Extremities in Professional Soccer Players as Demonstrated by a Two- Tensor Algorithm.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11007615.html