Lower fractional anisotropy at the anterior body of the normal-appearing corpus callosum in multiple sclerosis versus symptomatic carotid occlusion

Introduction  Not uncommonly, differentiating multiple sclerosis (MS) from ischemic cerebral vascular disease is difficult based on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We aim to determine whether preferential occult injury in the normal-appearing corpus callosum (NACC) is more severe in patients with MS than symptomatic carotid occlusion by comparing fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods  Eighteen patients (eight men, ten women; mean age, 38.6 years) with MS and 32 patients (24 men, eight women; mean age, 64.0 years) with symptomatic unilateral internal carotid occlusion were included. DTI (1.5 T) were performed at corpus callosum which were normal-appearing on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI. Mean FA was obtained from the genu, anterior body, posterior body, and splenium of NACC. Independent-sample t test statistical analysis was performed. Results  The FA values in various regions of NACC were lower in the MS patients than symptomatic carotid occlusion patients, which was statistically different at the anterior body (0.67 ± 0.12 vs 0.74 ± 0.06, P = 0.009), but not at genu, posterior body, and splenium (0.63 ± 0.09 vs 0.67 ± 0.07, P = 0.13; 0.68 ± 0.09 vs 0.73 ± 0.05, P = 0.07; 0.72 ± 0.09 vs 0.76 ± 0.05, P = 0.13). Conclusion  MS patients have lower FA in the anterior body of NACC compared to patients with symptomatic carotid occlusion. It suggests that DTI has potential ability to differentiate these two conditions due to the more severe preferential occult injury at the anterior body of NACC in MS.