Detection of early changes in the parahippocampal and posterior cingulum bundles during mild cognitive impairment by using high-resolution multi-parametric diffusion tensor imaging

• Published in: Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging Vol. 231; no. 3; pp. 346 - 352
• Main Authors: Ito, Kenji, Sasaki, Makoto, Takahashi, Junko, Uwano, Ikuko, Yamashita, Fumio, Higuchi, Satomi, Goodwin, Jonathan, Harada, Taisuke, Kudo, Kohsuke, Terayama, Yasuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 30.03.2015
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Alzheimer׳s disease; Anisotropy; Cognitive Dysfunction - pathology; Diffusion tensor imaging; Diffusion Tensor Imaging - methods; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Gyrus Cinguli - pathology; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mild cognitive impairment; Parahippocampal cingulum bundle; Posterior cingulum bundle; Psychiatry; Radiology; Single-Blind Method; Posterior cingulum bundle; Alzheimer׳s disease; Mild cognitive impairment; Parahippocampal cingulum bundle; Diffusion tensor imaging
• ISSN: 0925-4927; 1872-7506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2015.01.020

Abstract We aimed to determine alterations occurring in the parahippocampal cingulum bundle (PhC) and posterior cingulum bundle (PoC) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) through analysis of high-resolution multi-parametric diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Participants comprised 41 patients with MCI (21 AD converters [MCI-C] and 20 non-converters [MCI-NC]), 20 patients with Alzheimer׳s disease (AD), and 26 healthy elderly subjects who underwent prospective examination with high-resolution DTI. An atlas-based regions-of-interest (ROIs) method calculated fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (DA), and radial diffusivity (DR) in the PhC and PoC. For the PhC, FA values showed significant decreases, and MD and DR values showed significantly increases, in the MCI-C and AD groups compared with the healthy controls, although the MCI-C and MCI-NC groups did not differ significantly in these metrics. Conversely, none of the diffusion metrics for the PoC showed a significant difference among the MCI groups and the control groups, although there were significant differences between the AD group and control groups. High-resolution multi-parametric DTI analysis was able to detect substantial changes in diffusion anisotropy and diffusivity in the PhC of patients with MCI who were destined to convert to AD.