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Updated: Jun 1, 2026

Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Analysis of Neurodegenerative Diseases
Published on: July 28, 2013
Writing error may be a predictive sign for impending brain atrophy progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a
Hiroo Ichikawa1, Hideki Ohno, Hidetomo Murakami
1Department of Neurology, Brain Nerve Center, Showa University Fujigaoka Hospital, Aoba-ku, Yokohama, Japan. h_ichikawa0527@yahoo.co.jp
Aim:
To investigate whether writing errors are predictive of longitudinal brain atrophy progression in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Methods:
The frequency of writing errors in 6 ALS patients without dementia was compared with longitudinal changes in lateral ventricular areas of the bilateral anterior and inferior horns on X-ray computed tomography scans. The increase in area per month for the anterior and inferior horns was used as a measure of longitudinal brain atrophy progression, and was calculated as: (area on the initial scan - area on the follow-up scan)/scan interval (month).
Results:
The longitudinal rate of increase in the area of the anterior horns showed significant associations with the rates of total writing errors (r = 0.886, p = 0.0152), kana errors (r = 0.887, p = 0.0148) and kana omission (r = 0.856, p = 0.0268), whereas that for the inferior horns size showed no significant association with any writing errors.
Conclusion:
The increased area of the anterior horns indicates frontal-lobar atrophy, and writing errors may be a predictive sign for impending brain atrophy progression in the frontal lobes, which reflects the development of anterior-type dementia.
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