Table 1.
Summary of main structural/morphometric findings from studies with T1-weighted imaging data in ALS.
| Publication | ALS | Controls | Main finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buhour et al. 22 | 37 | 37 | Gray matter atrophy in the right precentral gyrus, the left postcentral gyrus, the left paracentral lobule, the left inferior temporal gyrus, the left supramarginal gyrus, and the right putamen |
| Illán-Gala et al. 23 | 31 | 37 | Cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus, paracentral frontal regions, and the precuneus; in ALS with cognitive or behavioral symptoms: cortical thinning in frontoinsular and temporal regions |
| Cheng et al. 24 | 60 | 60 | White matter atrophy in the corticospinal tract |
| de Albuquerque et al. 25 | 63 | 64 | Gray matter atrophy in the precentral cortex and several frontal areas; cortical thinning in paracentral, precentral, and temporal areas |
| Schuster et al. 26 | 60 | 69 | Cortical thinning of the precentral and paracentral gyri contributes to survival prediction in ALS via binary logistic ridge regression |
| Shen et al. 27 | 55 | 20 | Gray matter atrophy in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, precentral gyrus, cingulate gyrus, and the thalamus, most prominent in ALS-FTD |
| Hu et al. 28 | 42 | 21 | No significant difference in voxel-based morphometry between ALS with and without cognitive deficits |
| Dadar et al. 29 | 66 | 42 | Atrophy of the precentral gyrus, the corticospinal tract (including the internal capsule and brainstem), anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior parietal areas |
| Bede et al. 30 | 48 | 50 | Volume reduction in the basal ganglia; gray matter alterations of striatal subregions that project to rostral motor and executive cortical regions in ALS-FTD |
| Agosta et al. 31 | 67 | 22 | Cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus and prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital cortices |
| Branco et al. 32 | 50 | 38 | Atrophy of the amygdala in ALS with cognitive impairment |
| Kim et al. 33 | 62 | 57 | Lower gray matter density mostly in the precentral gyrus and adjacent pre- and postcentral regions, with more widespread frontotemporal involvement in bulbar ALS |
| Bede et al. 10 | 75 | 75 | Precentral gyrus, thalamus, caudate, nucleus accumbens, hippocampus, and amygdala volume contribute to disease classification in a canonical discriminant analysis |
| Christidi et al. 34 | 56 | 25 | Gray matter atrophy in the pre- and postcentral gyri, frontal regions (especially in ALS with pathological laughing and crying), temporal regions, subcortical structures, and the left cerebellum |
| Acosta-Cabronero et al. 35 | 28 | 39 | No significant difference in subcortical volumetry, voxel-based morphometry, or cortical thickness analyses |
| Ogura et al. 36 | 71 | 69 | Gray matter volume reduction near the right parahippocampal gyrus and in the anterior part of the left temporal lobe, the latter related to semantic deficits in ALS |
| Trojsi et al. 37 | 54 | 22 | No significant difference in voxel-based morphometry |
| Trojsi et al. 38 | 32 | 21 | No significant difference in voxel-based morphometry |
| Qiu et al. 39 | 60 | 60 | Atrophy in the left precentral gyrus and increased gray matter volume in several cerebellar subregions, possibly as compensation |
| Gellersen et al. 40 | 60 | 1471 | Meta-analysis; cerebellar atrophy in the vermis (culmen and nodule), left posterior lobe, left inferior semi-lunar lobule, and bilateral anterior lobe |
| Qin et al. 41 | 28 | 28 | Atrophy in the precentral gyrus, more widespread in late-stage ALS |
| Ferraro et al. 11 | 123 | 78 | Cortical thinning of the precentral gyrus contributes to disease classification in a random forest analysis |
| Consonni et al. 42 | 48 | 26 | Cortical thinning in frontoparietal regions; widespread thinning in inferior frontal, temporal, cingular, and insular regions in ALS with cognitive impairment |
| Contarino et al. 43 | 42 | 23 | Cortical thinning in the precentral cortex and paracentral lobule |
| Bharti et al. 44 | 71 | 56 | No significant difference in gray matter volume in the cerebellum or its components |
| Chipika et al. 45 | 133 | 117 | Thalamic atrophy with the preferential involvement of nuclei mediating motor and cognitive functions |
| Machts et al. 46 | 111 | 85 | Progressive cortical thinning of the right parahippocampal gyrus; progressive hippocampal atrophy in ALS with memory impairment |
| Tu et al. 47 | 20 | 31 | Thalamic atrophy with deformation of the medial surface |
| Consonni et al. 48 | 36 | 26 | Cortical thinning in the right middle frontal sulcus and the right middle-posterior cingulate gyrus |
| Wirth et al. 49 | 20 | 30 | No significant difference in the cortical thickness of the pre- and postcentral gyrus |
| Chipika et al. 50 | 88 | 117 | Atrophy of the accessory basal nucleus and the cortical nucleus of the amygdala |
| Finegan et al. 51 | 133 | 117 | Thalamic, caudate, and hippocampal atrophy and shape alterations, both in ALS and in PLS |
| Jin et al. 52 | 108 | 90 | Cortical thinning of the precentral gyrus with focus on the head-face region in bulbar-onset and on the upper-limb region in cervical-onset |
| Machts et al. 53 | 31 | 29 | Hippocampal volume reduction with shape deformities in the right hippocampal head and body region in vertex analysis |
| Welton et al. 54 | 21 | 63 | Trend toward atrophy of the precentral gyrus, as part of a composite score for disease classification |
| Senda et al. 55 | 67 | 38 | Gray matter atrophy in the precentral gyrus, basal ganglia, and frontoremporal lobes, more pronounced in rapid progression |
| Placek et al. 56 | 109 | 113 | Cortical thinning within the frontal and temporal lobes |
| Steinbach et al. 57 | 85 | 62 | Gray and white matter density decreases in the frontal and temporal lobes, as well as disease phase–related spread to frontal, temporal, and occipital gray matter areas |
| Chenji et al. 58 | 53 | 43 | Decreased gray matter density in the precentral gyrus, and premotor and medial prefrontal cortex, associated with verbal fluency |
| Christidi et al. 59 | 50 | 40 | Hippocampal atrophy, most pronounced in the cornu ammonis 2/3 subfield and the hippocampus–amygdala transition area |
| Omer et al. 60 | 30 | 40 | Gray matter atrophy in the pre- and postcentral gyri, or bitofrontal cortex, Broca area, and the frontal/temporal lobes in ALS-FTD |
| Finegan et al. 61 | 33 | 100 | Gray matter atrophy and cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus and left pars opercularis region; cerebellar atrophy in PLS and cortical thinning in the postcentral gyrus in ALS |
| Finegan et al. 62 | 39 | 100 | Gray matter atrophy and cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus, more widespread in ‘definite‘ versus ‘probable‘ PLS |
| Tae et al. 63 | 32 | 43 | Regional shape contractions that suggest local atrophy in both pallida, the right putamen, and the right nucleus accumbens |
| Bede et al. 64 | 133 | 100 | Progressive, multisegmental brainstem atrophy with medullar predominance, both in ALS and in PLS |
| Cheng et al. 65 | 60 | 60 | Cortical thinning in right precentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus |
| Finegan et al. 66 | 40 | 100 | Widespread gray and white matter atrophy in PLS, most pronounced in the precentral gyrus, frontal lobe, thalamus, corpus callosum, and corticospinal tract |
| Ratti et al. 67 | 22 | 115 | Gray matter atrophy in the precentral gyrus, the dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the orbitofrontal cortex, mainly driven by ALS-FTD |
| van der Burgh et al. 68 | 268 | 156 | Progressive cortical thinning in the precentral gyrus, frontal, and temporal regions; atrophy of the hippocampi, left amygdala, left accumbens nucleus, and right thalamus |
| Hensiek et al. 69 | 206 | 104 | Lower T1 intensity of the tongue in bulbar-onset compared with limb-onset AlS |
| Gorges et al. 70 | 251 | 112 | Atrophy of the hypothalamus is related to body mass index and unrelated to disease stage |
| Chen et al. 71 | 283 | 255 | White matter atrophy in the precentral gyrus, supplementary motor areas, left middle cerebellar peduncle, and right cerebellum, involving several fibers and tracts |
| Machts et al. 72 | 158 | 86 | Cortical thinning in the right precentral gyrus; trend toward cortical thinning in the left precentral gyrus |
ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; PLS, primary lateral sclerosis; FTD, frontotemporal dementia; PLS, primary lateral sclerosis.