الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
This study was performed to assess the role of diffusion tensor imaging in the detection of neuronal abnormality especially in patients with normal conventional MR through its ability to identify diffusion changes in the brain tracts. This study used tractography technique to assess the effect of epilepsy on the cerebral white matter. Thirty patients clinically diagnosed as having focal epilepsy and thirty controls are included in our study. Conventional MRI and DTI were acquired in all of the studied population. EEG was carried out for 30 patients. Fraction Anisotropy was measured at the both sides of the brain in both patients and control groups.MR tractography of the cingulum fasciculus, forceps minor fasciculus, cortico-spinal tracts and inferior longitudinal fasiculus was done in all of studied population. We assessed these tractsas regard their FA, and integrity. This study classified the patients according to the FA value differencebetween both sides of the brain compared to value made by the mean FA differences in the control group into DTI positive patients of Rt side and DTI positive patients of Lt side . Site of abnormality detected by DTI was compared with site of seizure focus in EEG inpatients with focal EEG findings. Studying the association between degree of FA reduction and some clinical factors as seizure frequency was carried out. This study found that DTI detected abnormality in patients with normal conventional MRI. The correlation between DTI and EEG revealed that DTI results match with 90% of the focal EEG results. This study found that the degree of FA reduction was positively correlated with seizure frequency and negatively correlated with age at onset of epilepsy. The pattern of affection of the mentioned tracts above in the form of reduction of their FA, displacement and their disruption in some patients. In conclusion, DTI can help in the detection of site of abnormality in patients with no gross abnormality in MRI and through tractography technique; it has a role in detecting the pattern of affection of the cerebral white matter in focal epilepsy patients.