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Changes in White Matter Integrity before Conversion from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may represent an early stage of dementia conferring a particularly high annual risk of 15–20% of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent findings suggest that not only gray matter (GM) loss but also a decline in white matter (WM) integrity may be as...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Defrancesco, Michaela, Egger, Karl, Marksteiner, Josef, Esterhammer, Regina, Hinterhuber, Hartmann, Deisenhammer, Eberhard A., Schocke, Michael
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4143363/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25153085
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106062
Descripción
Sumario:BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may represent an early stage of dementia conferring a particularly high annual risk of 15–20% of conversion to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recent findings suggest that not only gray matter (GM) loss but also a decline in white matter (WM) integrity may be associated with imminent conversion from MCI to AD. OBJECTIVE: In this study we used Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to examine if gray matter loss and/or an increase of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) reflecting mean diffusivity (MD) are an early marker of conversion from MCI to AD in a high risk population. METHOD: Retrospective neuropsychological and clinical data were collected for fifty-five subjects (MCI converters n = 13, MCI non-converters n = 14, healthy controls n = 28) at baseline and one follow-up visit. All participants underwent diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging scans at baseline to analyse changes in GM density and WM integrity using VBM. RESULTS: At baseline MCI converters showed impaired performance in verbal memory and naming compared to MCI non-converters. Further, MCI converters showed decreased WM integrity in the frontal, parietal, occipital, as well as the temporal lobe prior to conversion to AD. Multiple regression analysis showed a positive correlation of gray matter atrophy with specific neuropsychological test results. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that additionally to morphological changes of GM a reduced integrity of WM indicates an imminent progression from MCI stage to AD. Therefore, we suggest that DWI is useful in the early diagnosis of AD.