TY - JOUR
T1 - Anatomical brain connectivity can assess cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis
AU - Bozzali, M.
AU - Spanò, B.
AU - Parker, G. J M
AU - Giulietti, G.
AU - Castelli, M.
AU - Basile, B.
AU - Rossi, S.
AU - Serra, L.
AU - Magnani, G.
AU - Nocentini, U.
AU - Caltagirone, C.
AU - Centonze, D.
AU - Cercignani, M.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Background: Brain disconnection plays a major role in determining cognitive disabilities in multiple sclerosis (MS). We recently developed a novel diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) tractography approach, namely anatomical connectivitity mapping (ACM), that quantifies structural brain connectivity. Objective: Use of ACM to assess structural connectivity modifications in MS brains and ascertain their relationship with the patients' Paced-Auditory-Serial-Addition-Test (PASAT) scores. Methods: Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients (n = 25) and controls (n = 25) underwent MRI at 3T, including conventional images, T1-weighted volumes and DW-MRI. Volumetric scans were coregistered to fractional anisotropy (FA) images, to obtain parenchymal FA maps for both white and grey matter. We initiated probabilistic tractography from all parenchymal voxels, obtaining ACM maps by counting the number of streamlines passing through each voxel, then normalizing by the total number of streamlines initiated. The ACM maps were transformed into standard space, for statistical use. Results: RRMS patients had reduced grey matter volume and FA, consistent with previous literature. Also, we showed reduced ACM in the thalamus and in the head of the caudate nucleus, bilaterally. In our RRMS patients, ACM was associated with PASAT scores in the corpus callosum, right hippocampus and cerebellum. Conclusions: ACM opens a new perspective, clarifying the contribution of anatomical brain disconnection to clinical disabilities in MS.
AB - Background: Brain disconnection plays a major role in determining cognitive disabilities in multiple sclerosis (MS). We recently developed a novel diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) tractography approach, namely anatomical connectivitity mapping (ACM), that quantifies structural brain connectivity. Objective: Use of ACM to assess structural connectivity modifications in MS brains and ascertain their relationship with the patients' Paced-Auditory-Serial-Addition-Test (PASAT) scores. Methods: Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients (n = 25) and controls (n = 25) underwent MRI at 3T, including conventional images, T1-weighted volumes and DW-MRI. Volumetric scans were coregistered to fractional anisotropy (FA) images, to obtain parenchymal FA maps for both white and grey matter. We initiated probabilistic tractography from all parenchymal voxels, obtaining ACM maps by counting the number of streamlines passing through each voxel, then normalizing by the total number of streamlines initiated. The ACM maps were transformed into standard space, for statistical use. Results: RRMS patients had reduced grey matter volume and FA, consistent with previous literature. Also, we showed reduced ACM in the thalamus and in the head of the caudate nucleus, bilaterally. In our RRMS patients, ACM was associated with PASAT scores in the corpus callosum, right hippocampus and cerebellum. Conclusions: ACM opens a new perspective, clarifying the contribution of anatomical brain disconnection to clinical disabilities in MS.
KW - Anatomical connectivity mapping
KW - cognitive dysfunction
KW - diffusion imaging
KW - fractional anisotropy
KW - magnetic resonance imaging
KW - paced auditory serial addition test
KW - relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis
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U2 - 10.1177/1352458512474088
DO - 10.1177/1352458512474088
M3 - Article
C2 - 23325589
AN - SCOPUS:84880533093
VL - 19
SP - 1161
EP - 1168
JO - Multiple Sclerosis
JF - Multiple Sclerosis
SN - 1352-4585
IS - 9
ER -