Joint Assessment of Structural, Perfusion, and Diffusion MRI in Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia

Most MRI studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) have assessed structural, perfusion and diffusion abnormalities separately while ignoring the relationships across imaging modalities. This paper aimed to assess brain gray (GM) and white matter (WM) abnormalities jointly to elucidate differences in abnormal MRI patterns between the diseases. Twenty AD, 20 FTD patients, and 21 healthy control subjects were imaged using a 4 Tesla MRI. GM loss and GM hypoperfusion were measured using high-resolution T1 and arterial spin labeling MRI (ASL-MRI). WM degradation was measured with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Using a new analytical approach, the study found greater WM degenerations in FTD than AD at mild abnormality levels. Furthermore, the GM loss and WM degeneration exceeded the reduced perfusion in FTD whereas, in AD, structural and functional damages were similar. Joint assessments of multimodal MRI have potential value to provide new imaging markers for improved differential diagnoses between FTD and AD.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Joint assessment of structural, perfusion, and diffusion MRI in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.12142956.13298055 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Brandy Matthews

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Frontotemporal Dementia ◽

Diffusion Mri ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Joint Assessment

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Diffusion tensor imaging for Alzheimer's disease: A review of concepts and potential clinical applicability

Dementia & Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1590/s1980-57642009dn30400002 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 268-274 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luciano de Gois Vasconcelos ◽

Sonia Maria Dozzi Brucki ◽

Andrea Parolin Jackowiski ◽

Orlando Francisco Amodeo Bueno

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Diffusion Tensor Imaging ◽

Diffusion Tensor ◽

Cognitive Assessments ◽

Clinical Role ◽

Pubmed Database ◽

Apparent Diffusion ◽

And Diffusion ◽

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Dti

Abstract In view of the urgent need to identify an early and specific biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD), a PubMed database search was performed using the terms "Alzheimer disease" and "Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging" to enable review of Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) concepts and its potential clinical role in AD evaluation. Detailed analysis of selected abstracts showed that the main DTI measures, fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient, indicators of fiber tract integrity, provide a direct assessment of WM fibers and may be used as a new biomarker for AD. These findings were found to correlate with cognitive assessments, rates of AD progression and were also able to differentiate among groups including mild cognitive impairment, AD, and other dementias. Despite several consistent DTI findings in AD patients, there is still a lack of knowledge and studies on the DTI field. DTI is not yet ready for clinical use, and requires extensive further research in order to achieve this goal.

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