Development of a protocol to assess within-subject, regional white matter hyperintensity changes in aging and dementia.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
Background
White matter hyperintensities (WMH), associated with both dementia risk and progression, can individually progress, remain stable, or even regress influencing cognitive decline related to specific cerebrovascular-risks. This study details the development and validation of a registration protocol to assess regional, within-subject, longitudinal WMH changes (ΔWMH) that is currently lacking in the field.New method
3D-FLAIR images (baseline and one-year-visit) were used for protocol development and validation. The method was validated by assessing the correlation between forward and reverse longitudinal registration, and between summated regional progression-regression volumes and Global ΔWMH. The clinical relevance of growth-regression ΔWMH were explored in relation to an executive function test.Results
MRI scans for 79 participants (73.5 ± 8.8 years) were used in this study. Global ΔWMH vs. summated regional progression-regression volumes were highly associated (r2 = 0.90; p-value < 0.001). Bi-directional registration validated the registration method (r2 = 0.999; p-value < 0.001). Growth and regression, but not overall ΔWMH, were associated with one-year declines in performance on Trial-Making-Test-B.Comparison with existing method(s)
This method presents a unique registration protocol for maximum tissue alignment, demonstrating three distinct patterns of longitudinal within-subject ΔWMH (stable, growth and regression).Conclusions
These data detail the development and validation of a registration protocol for use in assessing within-subject, voxel-level alterations in WMH volume. The methods developed for registration and intensity correction of longitudinal within-subject FLAIR images allow regional and within-lesion characterization of longitudinal ΔWMH. Assessing the impact of associated cerebrovascular-risks and longitudinal clinical changes in relation to dynamic regional ΔWMH is needed in future studies.Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Bahrani, AA; Smith, CD; Barber, JM; Al-Janabi, OM; Powell, DK; Andersen, AH; Ramey, BD; Abner, EL; Goldstein, LB; Winder, Z; Gold, BT; Van Eldik, L; Wilcock, DM; Jicha, GA
Published Date
- August 2021
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 360 /
Start / End Page
- 109270 -
PubMed ID
- 34171312
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC8513808
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1872-678X
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0165-0270
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2021.109270
Language
- eng