Definition
Lesion burden, a phrase sometimes used interchangeably with lesion load, is a term that may be similar to the idea in medicine of disease burden but in the neuroimaging literature often refers to the overall cumulative effect or burden of brain lesions identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Current Knowledge
Lesion burden has been studied extensively in the field of multiple sclerosis (MS) and typically refers to white matter lesions (WML). Studies in MS may analyze both T1- and T2-weighted MRI identified lesion burden, for example, as well as concomitant brain volume, as they are associated with clinical outcomes such as health-related quality of life (Mowry et al. 2009), cognitive dysfunction (Patti et al. 2015), and even fatigue (Tedeschi et al. 2009, 2007). The idea of lesion burden or load has also been used with other populations such as...
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References and Readings
Bigler, E. D., & Stern, Y. (2015). Traumatic brain injury and reserve. In J. Grafman & A. M. Salazar (Eds.), Traumatic brain injury part II, handbook of clinical neurology (Vol. 128, pp. 691–710). Waltham: Elsevier.
Marchina, S., Zhu, L. L., Norton, A., Zipse, L., Wan, C. Y., & Schlaug, G. (2011). Impairment of speech production predicted by lesion load of the left arcuate fasciculus. Stroke, 42(8), 2251–2256. doi:10.1161/strokeaha.110.606103.
Mowry, E. M., Beheshtian, A., Waubant, E., Goodin, D. S., Cree, B. A., Qualley, P., …, & Pelletier, D. (2009). Quality of life in multiple sclerosis is associated with lesion burden and brain volume measures. Neurology, 72(20), 1760–1765. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181a609f8.
Mueller, S. G., Mack, W. J., Mungas, D., Kramer, J. H., Cardenas-Nicolson, V., Lavretsky, H., …, & Weiner, M. W. (2010). Influences of lobar gray matter and white matter lesion load on cognition and mood. Psychiatry Research, 181(2), 90–96. doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2009.08.002.
Patti, F., De Stefano, M., Lavorgna, L., Messina, S., Chisari, C. G., Ippolito, D., …, & Tedeschi, G. (2015). Lesion load may predict long-term cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis patients. PloS One, 10(3), e0120754. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0120754.
Tedeschi, G., Dinacci, D., Lavorgna, L., Prinster, A., Savettieri, G., Quattrone, A., …, & Alfano, B. (2007). Correlation between fatigue and brain atrophy and lesion load in multiple sclerosis patients independent of disability. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 263(1–2), 15–19. doi:10.1016/j.jns.2007.07.004.
Tedeschi, G., Dinacci, D., Comerci, M., Lavorgna, L., Savettieri, G., Quattrone, A., …, & Alfano, B. (2009). Brain atrophy evolution and lesion load accrual in multiple sclerosis: A 2-year follow-up study. Multiple Sclerosis, 15(2), 204–211. doi:10.1177/1352458508098270.
Zhu, L. L., Lindenberg, R., Alexander, M. P., & Schlaug, G. (2010). Lesion load of the corticospinal tract predicts motor impairment in chronic stroke. Stroke, 41(5), 910–915. doi:10.1161/strokeaha.109.577023.
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Gale, S.D. (2017). Lesion Burden. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_9065-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_9065-3
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Latest
Lesion Burden- Published:
- 11 August 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_9065-3
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Original
Lesion Burden- Published:
- 13 April 2017
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_9065-2