Comparison of neurodegenerative types using different brain MRI analysis metrics in older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s dementia

Myungwon Choi, Hyun Chul Youn, Daegyeom Kim, Suji Lee, Sangil Suh, Joon Kyung Seong, Hyun Ghang Jeong, Cheol E. Han

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Several metrics of analysis of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been used to assess Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related neurodegeneration. We compared four structural brain MRI analysis metrics, cortical thickness, volume, surface area, and local gyrification index (LGI), in different stages of AD-related cognitive decline. Participants with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and AD were included (34 participants per group). All undertook the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease (CERAD) battery of neuropsychological tests and brain MRI scanning. We analyzed associations between morphometric measures and CERAD total/ Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores for the regions of interest (ROIs), identifying three types of curves: U-shaped, inverted U-shaped, and linear. Cortical thickness and volume analyses showed linear types in most of the significant ROIs. Significant ROIs for the cortical thickness analysis were located in the temporal and limbic lobes, whereas those for volume and surface area were distributed over more diffuse areas of the brain. LGI analysis showed few significant ROIs. CERAD total scores were more sensitive to early changes of cortical structures than MMSE scores. Cortical thickness analysis may be preferable in assessing brain structural MRI changes during AD-related cognitive decline, whereas LGI analysis may have limited capability to reflect the cognitive decrease. Our findings may provide a reference for future studies and help to establish optimal analytical approaches to brain structural MRI in neurodegenerative diseases.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article numbere0220739
    JournalPloS one
    Volume14
    Issue number8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019 Aug 1

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2019 Choi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Comparison of neurodegenerative types using different brain MRI analysis metrics in older adults with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s dementia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this