Does motor deficit in children with cerebral palsy correlate with diffusion tensor metrics abnormalities in thalamocortical pathways?

Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine

Table 3 Correlations between clinical motor grade and diffusion tensor imaging metrics (fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, and fiber count) of motor corticospinal and sensory corticothalamic tracts in cerebral palsy children (no = 70)

		Right CST	Left CST	Right CTR	Left CTR
FA versus GMFCS	r	− 0.749**	− 0.651**	− 0.653**	− 0.642**
FA versus GMFCS	p	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001
MD versus GMFCS	r	0.216^*	0.040	0.408**	0.422**
MD versus GMFCS	p	0.034	0.701	0.005	< 0.001
Fibers count versus GMFCS	r	− 0.834^**	− 0.815**	− 0.708**	− 0.728^**
Fibers count versus GMFCS	p	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001	< 0.001

r Spearman correlation coefficient
**Statistically significant
Range of correlation coefficient values r: − 1.00 to − 0.80 very strong negative; − 0.79 to − 0.60 strong negative; − 0.59 to − 0.40 moderate negative; − 0.39 to − 0.20 weak negative; − 0.19 to − 0.01 very weak negative; r: 0.80 to 1.00 very strong positive; 0.60 to 0.79 strong positive; 0.40 to 0.59 moderate positive; 0.20 to − 0.39 weak positive; 0.00 to 0.19 very weak positive