CHICAGO – Poor gait and balance in the elderly correlated with white matter abnormalities in the genu of the corpus callosum, according to data presented at the American Society of Neuroradiology meeting. This was independent of age, arthritis, neuropathy, stroke, or brain atrophy.
Dr. Rafeeque A. Bhadelia studied 166 elderly individuals (123 females, mean age 74 years). Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), he found highly significant links between fractional anisotropy (FA) in the genu of the corpus callosum and Tenetti scores of gait (r = 0.31) and balance (r = 0.27). There were no correlations between FA in the splenium of the corpus callosum and gait or balance scores. “This is not surprising,” said Dr. Bhadelia, clinical operations chief in neuroradiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. That's because the genu of the corpus callosum connects both frontal lobes; other studies show ties between gait, balance, and frontal lobe function.
MR DTI gives a detailed view of white matter fiber tracts and direction. FA reflects directional brain organization, which is influenced by the magnitude and orientation of white matter tracts.
Since gait and balance dysfunction can be caused by other factors (deconditioning, arthritis, degenerative disease, stroke, etc.), a multivariate analysis was performed. Correlations between FA in the genu and gait (r = 0.24) and balance (r = 0.30) were still highly significant independent of age, gender, arthritis, neuropathy, stroke, or brain atrophy. DTI can therefore distinguish individuals whose balance problems derive from white matter dysfunction from those whose poor mobility has other causes.
On DTI, white matter fibers are green, red, or blue, depending on their direction. Courtesy Dr. Rafeeque A. Bhadelia