Diffusion MRI tractometry findings in Dystonia: a UK Biobank Study

Dystonia is a hyperkinetic disorder involving uncontrolled muscle contractions. Brain motor networks have been implicated, with heterogenous methodology and findings in the existing diffusion MRI literature. We compared diffusion findings in white matter motor pathways in dystonia (n=76) and healthy controls (n=311) derived from the UK biobank, assessing differing preprocessing and analysis approaches. An in-house pipeline identified localised tractometry MD and kurtosis differences in cerebellar peduncles, thalamic radiations and thalamo-premotor tracts in dystonia, findings not replicated using differing analysis and preprocessing approaches. Overall, localised white matter differences are implicated in dystonia, with the impact of methodology on group-level findings highlighted.