Relationships of the arcuate fasciculus and nigrostriatal tract with language ability in intracerebral hemorrhage using a diffusion tensor imaging

We investigated the relationships of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and the nigrostriatal tract (NST) with the language ability in patients with putaminal hemorrhage (PH) in the dominant hemisphere, using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Twenty-seven consecutive right-handed patients with PH and 27 age- and sex-matched normal control subjects were recruited. The aphasia quotient (AQ) score was used to evaluate the language ability at the early stage (within six weeks after onset). The fractional anisotropy (FA) value and tract volume (TV) of the ipsilesional AF and the ipsilesional NST were measured. The FA values and TVs of the ipsilesional AF and the ipsilesional NST of the patient group were lower than those of the control group (p < 0.05). The AQ score showed no significant correlation with the FA values of the ipsilesional AF and the ipsilesional NST (p > 0.05). By contrast, the AQ score showed a strong positive correlation with the TV of the ipsilesional AF (r = 0.868, p < 0.05). In addition, the AQ score revealed a moderate positive correlation with the TV of the ipsilesional NST (r = 0.577, p < 0.05). The states of the ipsilesional AF and the ipsilesional NST were closely related to the language ability at the early stages in patients with PH in the dominant hemisphere. Furthermore, the ipsilesional AF was more closely related to the language ability than the ipsilesional NST.