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Perinatal stroke causes most hemiparetic cerebral palsy, resulting in lifelong disability. We have demonstrated the ability of robots to quantify sensory dysfunction in hemiparetic children but the relationship between such deficits and sensory tract structural connectivity has not been explored. It was aimed to characterize the relationship between the dorsal column medial lemniscus (DCML) pathway connectivity and proprioceptive dysfunction in children with perinatal stroke. Twenty-nine participants (6-19 years old) with MRI-classified, unilateral perinatal ischemic stroke (14 arterial, 15 venous), and upper extremity deficits were recruited from a population-based cohort and compared with 21 healthy controls. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) defined DCML tracts and five diffusion properties were quantified: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean, radial, and axial diffusivities (MD, RD, AD), and fiber count. A robotic exoskeleton (KINARM) tested upper limb proprioception in an augmented reality environment. Correlations between robotic measures and sensory tract diffusion parameters were evaluated. Lesioned hemisphere sensory tracts demonstrated lower FA and higher MD, RD, and AD compared with the non-dominant hemisphere of controls. Dominant (contralesional) hemisphere tracts were not different from controls. Both arterial and venous stroke groups demonstrated impairments in proprioception that correlated with lesioned hemisphere DCML tract diffusion properties. Sensory tract connectivity is altered in the lesioned hemisphere of hemiparetic children with perinatal stroke. A correlation between lesioned DCML tract diffusion properties and robotic proprioceptive measures suggests clinical relevance and a possible target for therapeutic intervention. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2424-2440, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Proprioceptive and motor impairments commonly occur after stroke. Relationships between corticospinal tract (CST) fractional anisotropy (FA) and motor recovery have been identified. However, the relationship between sensory tract microstructure and proprioceptive recovery remains unexplored. Using probabilistic tractography, we examined the relationship between diffusion metrics in three tracts known to contain proprioceptive information (a) dorsal-column medial-lemniscal (DCML), (b) postcentral gyrus to supramarginal gyrus (POCG-SMG), (c) postcentral gyrus to Heschl's gyrus (POCG-HG) and proprioception at 1 (n = 26) and 6 months (n = 19) poststroke. Proprioception was assessed using two robotic tasks. Motor performance was also assessed robotically and compared to CST diffusion metrics. At 1-month poststroke, a nonsignificant relationship (r = -0.43, p = 0.05) was observed between DCML-FA and proprioceptive impairment. A moderate relationship was identified between POCG-SMG FA and POCG-HG FA and proprioceptive impairment (r = -0.47, p = 0.001 and r = -0.51, p = 0.008, respectively). No relationships were significant at 6 months poststroke. Similar to previous studies, lower CST-FA correlated with motor impairment at 1 month poststroke (r = -0.58, p = 0.002). While CST-FA is considered a predictor of motor impairment, our findings suggest that the relationship between FA and tracts containing proprioceptive information is not as straightforward and highlights the importance of sensory association areas in proprioception.

Perinatal stroke is the leading cause of hemiparetic cerebral palsy (CP), resulting in life-long disability. In this study, we examined the relationship between robotic upper extremity motor impairment and corticospinal tract (CST) diffusion properties. Thirty-three children with unilateral perinatal ischemic stroke (17 arterial, 16 venous) and hemiparesis were recruited from a population-based research cohort. Bilateral CSTs were defined using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and four diffusion metrics were quantified: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean (MD), radial (RD), and axial (AD) diffusivities. Participants completed a visually guided reaching task using the KINARM robot to define 10 movement parameters including movement time and maximum speed. Twenty-six typically developing children underwent the same evaluations. Partial correlations assessed the relationship between robotic reaching and CST diffusion parameters. All diffusion properties of the lesioned CST differed from controls in the arterial group, whereas only FA was reduced in the venous group. Non-lesioned CST diffusion measures were similar between stroke groups and controls. Both stroke groups demonstrated impaired reaching performance. Multiple reaching parameters of the affected limb correlated with lesioned CST diffusion properties. Lower FA and higher MD were associated with greater movement time. Few correlations were observed between non-lesioned CST diffusion and unaffected limb function though FA was associated with reaction time (R = -0.39, p

Perinatal stroke causes most hemiparetic cerebral palsy, resulting in lifelong disability. We have demonstrated the ability of robots to quantify sensory dysfunction in hemiparetic children but the relationship between such deficits and sensory tract structural connectivity has not been explored. It was aimed to characterize the relationship between the dorsal column medial lemniscus (DCML) pathway connectivity and proprioceptive dysfunction in children with perinatal stroke. Twenty‐nine participants (6–19 years old) with MRI‐classified, unilateral perinatal ischemic stroke (14 arterial, 15 venous), and upper extremity deficits were recruited from a population‐based cohort and compared with 21 healthy controls. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) defined DCML tracts and five diffusion properties were quantified: fractional anisotropy (FA), mean, radial, and axial diffusivities (MD, RD, AD), and fiber count. A robotic exoskeleton (KINARM) tested upper limb proprioception in an augmented reality environment. Correlations between robotic measures and sensory tract diffusion parameters were evaluated. Lesioned hemisphere sensory tracts demonstrated lower FA and higher MD, RD, and AD compared with the non‐dominant hemisphere of controls. Dominant (contralesional) hemisphere tracts were not different from controls. Both arterial and venous stroke groups demonstrated impairments in proprioception that correlated with lesioned hemisphere DCML tract diffusion properties. Sensory tract connectivity is altered in the lesioned hemisphere of hemiparetic children with perinatal stroke. A correlation between lesioned DCML tract diffusion properties and robotic proprioceptive measures suggests clinical relevance and a possible target for therapeutic intervention. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2424–2440, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.