260 - Quantitative anisotropy differences between healthy adult and child brain

• Published in: Journal of medical imaging and radiation sciences Vol. 55; no. 3
• Main Authors: Lamgade, Ms. Usha Poudel, Chhetri, Mrs. Karuna Raya, Shrestha, Mrs. Sabina, Twayana, Mrs. Bishnubi, Maharjan, Dr. Surendra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.10.2024
• ISSN: 1939-8654
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jmir.2024.101635

Quantitative Anisotropy (QA) is a robust diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) metric. Like Fractional Anisotropy (FA), QA provides information about the degree of anisotropy, with higher accuracy of microstructure differentiation. We used open-source datasets of 6 healthy adults and 11 healthy children available at https://openneuro.org/datasets/ds003416/versions/2.0.2.The dataset consists of 319 diffusion scans acquired at 3T MRI from b- value 1000 to 3000 s/mm2, among which dataset with b-value 0 and 2000 s/mm2 was taken for our study. All the acquisitions per scan were preprocessed, and QA was calculated with the Generalized Q-space Imaging (GQI) algorithm in DSI Studio. The obtained QA images were statistically analyzed using TBSS commands from the FSL package. The QA images were first registered non-linearly to create a mean subject template. Then, the mean QA image was threshold by 0.2 to obtain a white matter tracts skeleton image. Each participant's QA image was projected onto this skeleton image. Regression analysis was performed with 10,000 permutations using a randomized tool. P-value was set at a 5% level of significance. The statistical analysis of TBSS showed statistically significant differences between healthy adult and child brains. We obtained higher QA values among children than in adults. Our results revealed significant differences between the white matter microstructure of healthy adults and children, likely attributed to undergoing development, and myelination in the child's brain. The QA values were found to be higher in the white matter of the brain in children compared to adults which implies ongoing brain development in children. The diffusion is more anisotropic in children compared to the adult brain. The QA could be used as a non-invasive bioimaging marker for differentiating adult and child brains.