Combining ADC values in DWI with rCBF values in arterial spin labeling (ASL) for the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI)

We aimed to investigate the role of combined apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) values in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. The present prospective research enrolled 156 MCI patients and 58 healthy elderly people who came to our hospital from January 2021 to February 2023. T1W, T2W, diffusion-weighted imaging, and arterial spin labeling sequences were performed on all subjects, and ADC values and rCBF values were measured at the workstation. Clinical and demographic data of all patients were collected while mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scores were used to assess patients’ cognitive abilities. The MCI group had significantly lower rCBF values in the left frontal lobe, left occipital lobe, right frontal lobe, and right occipital lobe than the HC group. The ADC values in the left frontal lobe as well as the right frontal lobe were remarkably elevated in the MCI group than in the HC group. MoCA and MMSE scores were positively correlated with rCBF values in the left frontal, right frontal, left occipital, and right occipital lobes and negatively correlated with ADC values in the left and right frontal lobes. Combined ADC values and rCBF values from the left frontal lobe for the diagnosis of MCI had a higher sensitivity and specificity with the AUC was 0.877, sensitivity 81.0%, specificity 82.7%. Additionally, pressure fasting plasma glucose, ADC of the left frontal lobe, right frontal lobe, rCBF of left frontal lobe and rCBF of left frontal lobe were the risk factors of patients with MCI. In summary, our results indicated that the ADC values and rCBF values were changed in MCI group compared to HC group and correlated with MMSE and MoCA scores.