Xue X, Lu R, Li H, Chen Z, Sheng D, Jin Z, Liu S, Liu A, Yan X, Tang W, Chen S, Hua Y. In Vivo Characterization of Cerebellar Peduncles in Chronic Ankle Instability: A Single and Multishell Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Study.
Sports Health 2024;
16:38-46. [PMID:
38112261 PMCID:
PMC10732106 DOI:
10.1177/19417381231156544]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Ankle sprain causes proprioceptor injuries and prolonged joint deafferentation, which might lead to maladaptive neuroplasticity in patients with chronic ankle instability (CAI), especially in the cerebellum. Previous studies have indicated the impairment of superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP), but the inferior cerebellar peduncle (ICP) and middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP) have not been fully analyzed.
HYPOTHESIS
The cerebellar peduncles of participants with CAI would have altered fractional anisotropy (FA) and orientation dispersion index (ODI) in comparison with healthy controls without ankle injury history. In addition, FA and ODI would be correlated with the duration or severity of the sensorimotor deficits in CAI.
STUDY DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.
LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Level 3.
METHODS
A group of 27 participants with CAI and 26 healthy controls underwent diffusion-weighted imaging scanning, with the cerebellar peduncles as the regions of interest. The measures obtained by single-shell diffusion tensor imaging and the multishell neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging were used. Correlation analyses were performed to examine the potential relationship between the FA/ODI and both the normalized Y-balance scores and the durations of ankle instability.
RESULTS
The ipsilateral ICP of the injured ankle in participants with CAI showed significantly lower FA (Cohen d 95% CI, -1.33 to -0.21; P = 0.04) and marginally significant higher ODI (Cohen d 95% CI, 0.10 to 1.20, P = 0.08) when compared with the same measures in the control group, with the ODI being positively correlated with the duration of ankle instability (r = 0.42, P = 0.03).
CONCLUSION
The ICP in participants with CAI exhibited impaired integrity and a trend of abnormally organized neurites in comparison with a healthy control group.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The impairments of ICP might be an ongoing part of the pathological process of CAI, having the potential to become a target for the diagnostic evaluation of this clinical entity.
Collapse