Fixel-Based Analysis Reveals Tau-Related White Matter Changes in Early Stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

Several studies have shown white matter (WM) abnormalities in Alzheimer's disease (AD) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Nonetheless, robust characterization of WM changes has been challenging due to the methodological limitations of DTI. We applied fixel-based analyses (FBA) to examine microscopic differences in fiber density (FD) and macroscopic changes in fiber cross-section (FC) in early stages of AD (N = 393, 212 females). FBA was also compared with DTI, free-water corrected (FW)-DTI and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). We further investigated the correlation of FBA and tensor-derived metrics with AD pathology and cognition. FBA metrics were decreased in the entire cingulum bundle, uncinate fasciculus and anterior thalamic radiations in Aß-positive patients with mild cognitive impairment compared to control groups. Metrics derived from DKI, and FW-DTI showed similar alterations whereas WM degeneration detected by DTI was more widespread. Tau-PET uptake in medial temporal regions was only correlated with reduced FC mainly in the parahippocampal cingulum in Aß-positive individuals. This tau-related WM alteration was also associated with impaired memory. Despite the spatially extensive between-group differences in DTI-metrics, the link between WM and tau aggregation was only revealed using FBA metrics implying high sensitivity but low specificity of DTI-based measures in identifying subtle tau-related WM degeneration. No relationship was found between amyloid load and any diffusion-MRI measures. Our results indicate that early tau-related WM alterations in AD are due to macrostructural changes specifically captured by FBA metrics. Thus, future studies assessing the effects of AD pathology in WM tracts should consider using FBA metrics.

Diffusion MRI tracks cortical microstructural changes during the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.

There is increased interest in developing markers reflecting microstructural changes that could serve as outcome measures in clinical trials. This is especially important after unexpected results in trials evaluating disease-modifying therapies targeting amyloid-ß (Aß), where morphological metrics from MRI showed increased volume loss despite promising clinical treatment effects. In this study, changes over time in cortical mean diffusivity, derived using diffusion tensor imaging, were investigated in a large cohort (n = 424) of non-demented participants from the Swedish BioFINDER study. Participants were stratified following the Aß/tau (AT) framework. The results revealed a widespread increase in mean diffusivity over time, including both temporal and parietal cortical regions, in Aß-positive but still tau-negative individuals. These increases were steeper in Aß-positive and tau-positive individuals and robust to the inclusion of cortical thickness in the model. A steeper increase in mean diffusivity was also associated with both changes over time in fluid markers reflecting astrocytic activity (i.e. plasma level of glial fibrillary acidic protein and CSF levels of YKL-40) and worsening of cognitive performance (all P < 0.01). By tracking cortical microstructural changes over time and possibly reflecting variations related to the astrocytic response, cortical mean diffusivity emerges as a promising marker for tracking treatments-induced microstructural changes in clinical trials.

Interactions between vascular burden and amyloid-ß pathology on trajectories of tau accumulation.

Cerebrovascular pathology often co-exists with Alzheimer's disease pathology and can contribute to Alzheimer's disease-related clinical progression. However, the degree to which vascular burden contributes to Alzheimer's disease pathological progression is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate interactions between vascular burden and amyloid-ß pathology on both baseline tau tangle load and longitudinal tau accumulation. We included 1229 participants from the Swedish BioFINDER-2 Study, including cognitively unimpaired and impaired participants with and without biomarker-confirmed amyloid-ß pathology. All underwent baseline tau-PET (18F-RO948), and a subset (n = 677) underwent longitudinal tau-PET after 2.5 ± 1.0 years. Tau-PET uptake was computed for a temporal meta-region-of-interest. We focused on four main vascular imaging features and risk factors: microbleeds; white matter lesion volume; stroke-related events (infarcts, lacunes and haemorrhages); and the Framingham Heart Study Cardiovascular Disease risk score. To validate our in vivo results, we examined 1610 autopsy cases from an Arizona-based neuropathology cohort on three main vascular pathological features: cerebral amyloid angiopathy; white matter rarefaction; and infarcts. For the in vivo cohort, primary analyses included age-, sex- and APOE ɛ4-corrected linear mixed models between tau-PET (outcome) and interactions between time, amyloid-ß and each vascular feature (predictors). For the neuropathology cohort, age-, sex- and APOE ɛ4-corrected linear models between tau tangle density (outcome) and an interaction between plaque density and each vascular feature (predictors) were performed. In cognitively unimpaired individuals, we observed a significant interaction between microbleeds and amyloid-ß pathology on greater baseline tau load (ß = 0.68, P < 0.001) and longitudinal tau accumulation (ß = 0.11, P < 0.001). For white matter lesion volume, we did not observe a significant independent interaction effect with amyloid-ß on tau after accounting for microbleeds. In cognitively unimpaired individuals, we further found that stroke-related events showed a significant negative interaction with amyloid-ß on longitudinal tau (ß = -0.08, P < 0.001). In cognitively impaired individuals, there were no significant interaction effects between cerebrovascular and amyloid-ß pathology at all. In the neuropathology dataset, the in vivo observed interaction effects between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and plaque density (ß = 0.38, P < 0.001) and between infarcts and plaque density (ß = -0.11, P = 0.005) on tau tangle density were replicated. To conclude, we demonstrated that cerebrovascular pathology-in the presence of amyloid-ß pathology-modifies tau accumulation in early stages of Alzheimer's disease. More specifically, the co-occurrence of microbleeds and amyloid-ß pathology was associated with greater accumulation of tau aggregates during early disease stages. This opens the possibility that interventions targeting microbleeds may attenuate the rate of tau accumulation in Alzheimer's disease.

A generalizable data-driven model of atrophy heterogeneity and progression in memory clinic settings.

Memory clinic patients are a heterogeneous population representing various aetiologies of pathological aging. It is unknown if divergent spatiotemporal progression patterns of brain atrophy, as previously described in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, are prevalent and clinically meaningful in this group of older adults. To uncover distinct atrophy subtypes, we applied the Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn) algorithm to baseline structural MRI data from 813 participants enrolled in the DELCODE cohort (mean ± SD age = 70.67 ± 6.07 years, 52% females). Participants were cognitively unimpaired (CU; n = 285) or fulfilled diagnostic criteria for subjective cognitive decline (SCD; n = 342), mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 118), or dementia of the Alzheimer's type (n = 68). Atrophy subtypes were compared in baseline demographics, fluid AD biomarker levels, the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite (PACC-5), as well as episodic memory and executive functioning. PACC-5 trajectories over up to 240 weeks were examined. To test if baseline atrophy subtype and stage predicted clinical trajectories before manifest cognitive impairment, we analysed PACC-5 trajectories and MCI conversion rates of CU and SCD participants. Limbic-predominant and hippocampal-sparing atrophy subtypes were identified. Limbic-predominant atrophy first affected the medial temporal lobes, followed by further temporal and, finally, the remaining cortical regions. At baseline, this subtype was related to older age, more pathological AD biomarker levels, APOE ε4 carriership, and an amnestic cognitive impairment. Hippocampal-sparing atrophy initially occurred outside the temporal lobe with the medial temporal lobe spared up to advanced atrophy stages. This atrophy pattern also affected individuals with positive AD biomarkers and was associated with more generalised cognitive impairment. Limbic-predominant atrophy, in all and in only unimpaired participants, was linked to more negative longitudinal PACC-5 slopes than observed in participants without or with hippocampal-sparing atrophy and increased the risk of MCI conversion. SuStaIn modelling was repeated in a sample from the Swedish BioFINDER-2 cohort. Highly similar atrophy progression patterns and associated cognitive profiles were identified. Cross-cohort model generalizability, both on the subject and group level, were excellent, indicating reliable performance in previously unseen data. The proposed model is a promising tool for capturing heterogeneity among older adults at early at-risk states for AD in applied settings. The implementation of atrophy subtype- and stage-specific end-points may increase the statistical power of pharmacological trials targeting early AD.

Divergent functional connectivity changes associated with white matter hyperintensities.

Age-related white matter hyperintensities are a common feature and are known to be negatively associated with structural integrity, functional connectivity, and cognitive performance. However, this has yet to be fully understood mechanistically. We analyzed multiple MRI modalities acquired in 465 non-demented individuals from the Swedish BioFINDER study including 334 cognitively normal and 131 participants with mild cognitive impairment. White matter hyperintensities were automatically quantified using fluid-attenuated inversion recovery MRI and parameters from diffusion tensor imaging were estimated in major white matter fibre tracts. We calculated fMRI resting state-derived functional connectivity within and between predefined cortical regions structurally linked by the white matter tracts. How change in functional connectivity is affected by white matter lesions and related to cognition (in the form of executive function and processing speed) was explored. We examined the functional changes using a measure of sample entropy. As expected hyperintensities were associated with disrupted structural white matter integrity and were linked to reduced functional interregional lobar connectivity, which was related to decreased processing speed and executive function. Simultaneously, hyperintensities were also associated with increased intraregional functional connectivity, but only within the frontal lobe. This phenomenon was also associated with reduced cognitive performance. The increased connectivity was linked to increased entropy (reduced predictability and increased complexity) of the involved voxels' blood oxygenation level-dependent signal. Our findings expand our previous understanding of the impact of white matter hyperintensities on cognition by indicating novel mechanisms that may be important beyond this particular type of brain lesions.

Age-related and amyloid-beta-independent tau deposition and its downstream effects.

Amyloid-ß (Aß) is hypothesized to facilitate the spread of tau pathology beyond the medial temporal lobe. However, there is evidence that, independently of Aß, age-related tau pathology might be present outside of the medial temporal lobe. We therefore aimed to study age-related Aß-independent tau deposition outside the medial temporal lobe in two large cohorts and to investigate potential downstream effects of this on cognition and structural measures. We included 545 cognitively unimpaired adults (40-92 years) from the BioFINDER-2 study (in vivo) and 639 (64-108 years) from the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center cohorts (ex vivo). 18F-RO948- and 18F-flutemetamol-PET standardized uptake value ratios were calculated for regional tau and global/regional Aß in vivo. Immunohistochemistry was used to estimate Aß load and tangle density ex vivo. In vivo medial temporal lobe volumes (subiculum, cornu ammonis 1) and cortical thickness (entorhinal cortex, Brodmann area 35) were obtained using Automated Segmentation for Hippocampal Subfields packages. Thickness of early and late neocortical Alzheimer's disease regions was determined using FreeSurfer. Global cognition and episodic memory were estimated to quantify cognitive functioning. In vivo age-related tau deposition was observed in the medial temporal lobe and in frontal and parietal cortical regions, which was statistically significant when adjusting for Aß. This was also observed in individuals with low Aß load. Tau deposition was negatively associated with cortical volumes and thickness in temporal and parietal regions independently of Aß. The associations between age and cortical volume or thickness were partially mediated via tau in regions with early Alzheimer's disease pathology, i.e. early tau and/or Aß pathology (subiculum/Brodmann area 35/precuneus/posterior cingulate). Finally, the associations between age and cognition were partially mediated via tau in Brodmann area 35, even when including Aß-PET as covariate. Results were validated in the ex vivo cohort showing age-related and Aß-independent increases in tau aggregates in and outside the medial temporal lobe. Ex vivo age-cognition associations were mediated by medial and inferior temporal tau tangle density, while correcting for Aß density. Taken together, our study provides support for primary age-related tauopathy even outside the medial temporal lobe in vivo and ex vivo, with downstream effects on structure and cognition. These results have implications for our understanding of the spreading of tau outside the medial temporal lobe, also in the context of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, this study suggests the potential utility of tau-targeting treatments in primary age-related tauopathy, likely already in preclinical stages in individuals with low Aß pathology.

CT-based volumetric measures obtained through deep learning: Association with biomarkers of neurodegeneration.

INTRODUCTION: Cranial computed tomography (CT) is an affordable and widely available imaging modality that is used to assess structural abnormalities, but not to quantify neurodegeneration. Previously we developed a deep-learning-based model that produced accurate and robust cranial CT tissue classification. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 917 CT and 744 magnetic resonance (MR) scans from the Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort, and 204 CT and 241 MR scans from participants of the Memory Clinic Cohort, Singapore. We tested associations between six CT-based volumetric measures (CTVMs) and existing clinical diagnoses, fluid and imaging biomarkers, and measures of cognition. RESULTS: CTVMs differentiated cognitively healthy individuals from dementia and prodromal dementia patients with high accuracy levels comparable to MR-based measures. CTVMs were significantly associated with measures of cognition and biochemical markers of neurodegeneration. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest the potential future use of CT-based volumetric measures as an informative first-line examination tool for neurodegenerative disease diagnostics after further validation. HIGHLIGHTS: Computed tomography (CT)-based volumetric measures can distinguish between patients with neurodegenerative disease and healthy controls, as well as between patients with prodromal dementia and controls. CT-based volumetric measures associate well with relevant cognitive, biochemical, and neuroimaging markers of neurodegenerative diseases. Model performance, in terms of brain tissue classification, was consistent across two cohorts of diverse nature. Intermodality agreement between our automated CT-based and established magnetic resonance (MR)-based image segmentations was stronger than the agreement between visual CT and MR imaging assessment.

Probing brain tissue microstructure with MRI: principles, challenges, and the role of multidimensional diffusion-relaxation encoding.

Diffusion MRI uses the random displacement of water molecules to sensitize the signal to brain microstructure and to properties such as the density and shape of cells. Microstructure modeling techniques aim to estimate these properties from acquired data by separating the signal between virtual tissue 'compartments' such as the intra-neurite and the extra-cellular space. A key challenge is that the diffusion MRI signal is relatively featureless compared with the complexity of brain tissue. Another challenge is that the tissue microstructure is wildly different within the gray and white matter of the brain. In this review, we use results from multidimensional diffusion encoding techniques to discuss these challenges and their tentative solutions. Multidimensional encoding increases the information content of the data by varying not only the b-value and the encoding direction but also additional experimental parameters such as the shape of the b-tensor and the echo time. Three main insights have emerged from such encoding. First, multidimensional data contradict common model assumptions on diffusion and T2 relaxation, and illustrates how the use of these assumptions cause erroneous interpretations in both healthy brain and pathology. Second, many model assumptions can be dispensed with if data are acquired with multidimensional encoding. The necessary data can be easily acquired in vivo using protocols optimized to minimize Cramér-Rao lower bounds. Third, microscopic diffusion anisotropy reflects the presence of axons but not dendrites. This insight stands in contrast to current 'neurite models' of brain tissue, which assume that axons in white matter and dendrites in gray matter feature highly similar diffusion. Nevertheless, as an axon-based contrast, microscopic anisotropy can differentiate gray and white matter when myelin alterations confound conventional MRI contrasts.

A neurophenomenological fMRI study of a spontaneous automatic writer and a hypnotic cohort.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the neurophenomenology of automatic writing (AW) in a spontaneous automatic writer (NN) and four high hypnotizables (HH). METHODS: During fMRI, NN and the HH were cued to perform spontaneous (NN) or induced (HH) AW, and a comparison task of copying complex symbols, and to rate their experience of control and agency. RESULTS: Compared to copying, for all participants AW was associated with less sense of control and agency and decreased BOLD signal responses in brain regions implicated in the sense of agency (left premotor cortex and insula, right premotor cortex, and supplemental motor area), and increased BOLD signal responses in the left and right temporoparietal junctions and the occipital lobes. During AW, the HH differed from NN in widespread BOLD decreases across the brain and increases in frontal and parietal regions. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous and induced AW had similar effects on agency, but only partly overlapping effects on cortical activity.

Prenatal gyrification pattern affects age at onset in frontotemporal dementia.

The paracingulate sulcus is a tertiary sulcus formed during the third trimester. In healthy individuals paracingulate sulcation is more prevalent in the left hemisphere. The anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri are focal points of neurodegeneration in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). This study aims to determine the prevalence and impact of paracingulate sulcation in bvFTD. Structural magnetic resonance images of individuals with bvFTD (n = 105, mean age 66.9 years), Alzheimer's disease (n = 92, 73.3), and healthy controls (n = 110, 62.4) were evaluated using standard protocol for hemispheric paracingulate sulcal presence. No difference in left hemisphere paracingulate sulcal frequency was observed between groups; 0.72, 0.79, and 0.70, respectively, in the bvFTD, Alzheimer's disease, and healthy control groups, (P = 0.3). A significant impact of right (but not left) hemispheric paracingulate sulcation on age at disease onset was identified in bvFTD (mean 60.4 years where absent vs. 63.8 where present [P = 0.04, Cohen's d = 0.42]). This relationship was not observed in Alzheimer's disease. These findings demonstrate a relationship between prenatal neuronal development and the expression of a neurodegenerative disease providing a gross morphological example of brain reserve.

Midsagittal corpus callosal thickness and cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.

People diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) can experience significant neuropsychiatric symptoms, including cognitive impairment and dementia, the neuroanatomical substrates of which are not fully characterised. Symptoms associated with cognitive impairment and dementia in PD may relate to direct structural changes to the corpus callosum via primary white matter pathology or as a secondary outcome due to the degeneration of cortical regions. Using magnetic resonance imaging, the corpus callosum can be investigated at the midsagittal plane, where it converges to a contiguous mass and is not intertwined with other tracts. The objective of this project was thus twofold: First, we investigated possible changes in the thickness of the midsagittal callosum and cortex in patients with PD with varying levels of cognitive impairment; and secondly, we investigated the relationship between the thickness of the midsagittal corpus callosum and the thickness of the cortex. Study participants included cognitively unimpaired PD participants (n = 35), PD participants with mild cognitive impairment (n = 22), PD participants with dementia (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 27). We found thinning of the callosum in PD-related dementia compared with PD-related mild cognitive impairment and cognitively unimpaired PD participants. Regression analyses found thickness of the left medial orbitofrontal cortex to be positively correlated with thickness of the anterior callosum in PD-related mild cognitive impairment. This study suggests that a midsagittal thickness model can uncover changes to the corpus callosum in PD-related dementia, which occur in line with changes to the cortex in this advanced disease stage.

Inter-modality assessment of medial temporal lobe atrophy in a non-demented population: application of a visual rating scale template across radiologists with varying clinical experience.

OBJECTIVES: To assess inter-modality agreement and accuracy for medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) ratings across radiologists with varying clinical experience in a non-demented population. METHODS: Four raters (two junior radiologists and two senior neuroradiologists) rated MTA on CT and MRI scans using Scheltens' MTA scale. Ratings were compared to a consensus rating by two experienced neuroradiologists for estimation of true positive and negative rates (TPR and TNR) and over- and underestimation of MTA. Inter-modality agreement expressed as Cohen's κ (dichotomized data), Cohen's κw, and two-way mixed, single measures, consistency ICC (ordinal data) were determined. Adequate agreement was defined as κ/κw ≥ 0.80 and ICC ≥ 0.80 (significance level at 95% CI ≥ 0.65). RESULTS: Forty-nine subjects (median age 72 years, 27% abnormal MTA) with cognitive impairment were included. Only junior radiologists achieved adequate agreement expressed as Cohen's κ. All raters achieved adequate agreement expressed as Cohen's κw and ICC. True positive rates varied from 69 to 100% and TNR varied from 85 to 100%. No under- or overestimation of MTA was observed. Ratings did not differ between radiologists. CONCLUSION: We conclude that radiologists with varying experience achieve adequate inter-modality agreement and similar accuracy when Scheltens' MTA scale is used to rate MTA on a non-demented population. However, TPR varied between radiologists which could be attributed to rating style differences. KEY POINTS: • Radiologists with varying experience achieve adequate inter-modality agreement with similar accuracy when Scheltens' MTA scale is used to rate MTA on a non-demented population. • Differences in rating styles might affect accuracy, this was most evident for senior neuroradiologists, and only junior radiologists achieved adequate agreement on dichotomized (abnormal/normal) ratings. • The use of an MTA scale template might compensate for varying clinical experience which could make it applicable for clinical use.

Diffusion tensor imaging in glioblastoma patients treated with volumetric modulated arc radiotherapy: a longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Chemo- and radiotherapy (RT) is standard treatment for patients with high-grade glioma, but may cause side-effects on the patient's cognitive function. AIM: Use of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to investigate the longitudinal changes in normal-appearing brain tissue in glioblastoma patients undergoing modern arc-based RT with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) or helical tomotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 27 patients newly diagnosed with glioblastoma and planned for VMAT or tomotherapy. All subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging at the start of RT and at week 3, 6, 15, and 26. Fourteen subjects were additionally imaged at week 52. The DTI data were co-registered to the dose distribution maps. Longitudinal changes in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD) were assessed in the corpus callosum, the centrum semiovale, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. RESULTS: Significant longitudinal changes in FA, MD, and RD were mainly found in the corpus callosum. In the other examined brain structures, only sparse and transient changes were seen. No consistent correlations were found between biodose, age, or gender and changes in DTI parameters. CONCLUSION: Longitudinal changes in MD, FA, and RD were observed but only in a limited number of brain structures and the changes were smaller than expected from literature. The results suggest that modern, arc-based RT may have less negative effect on normal-appearing parts of the brain tissue up to 12 months after radiotherapy.

Plasma markers predict changes in amyloid, tau, atrophy and cognition in non-demented subjects.

It is currently unclear whether plasma biomarkers can be used as independent prognostic tools to predict changes associated with early Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we sought to address this question by assessing whether plasma biomarkers can predict changes in amyloid load, tau accumulation, brain atrophy and cognition in non-demented individuals. To achieve this, plasma amyloid-ß 42/40 (Aß42/40), phosphorylated-tau181, phosphorylated-tau217 and neurofilament light were determined in 159 non-demented individuals, 123 patients with Alzheimer's disease dementia and 35 patients with a non-Alzheimer's dementia from the Swedish BioFINDER-2 study, who underwent longitudinal amyloid (18F-flutemetamol) and tau (18F-RO948) PET, structural MRI (T1-weighted) and cognitive testing. Our univariate linear mixed effect models showed there were several significant associations between the plasma biomarkers with imaging and cognitive measures. However, when all biomarkers were included in the same multivariate linear mixed effect models, we found that increased longitudinal amyloid-PET signals were independently predicted by low baseline plasma Aß42/40 (P = 0.012), whereas increased tau-PET signals, brain atrophy and worse cognition were independently predicted by high plasma phosphorylated-tau217 (P < 0.004). These biomarkers performed equally well or better than the corresponding biomarkers measured in the CSF. In addition, they showed a similar performance to binary plasma biomarker values defined using the Youden index, which can be more easily implemented in the clinic. In addition, plasma Aß42/40 and phosphorylated-tau217 did not predict longitudinal changes in patients with a non-Alzheimer's neurodegenerative disorder. In conclusion, our findings indicate that plasma Aß42/40 and phosphorylated-tau217 could be useful in clinical practice, research and drug development as prognostic markers of future Alzheimer's disease pathology.

The protective gene dose effect of the APOE ε2 allele on gray matter volume in cognitively unimpaired individuals.

INTRODUCTION: Harboring two copies of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε2 allele strongly protects against Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the effect of this genotype on gray matter (GM) volume in cognitively unimpaired individuals has not yet been described. METHODS: Multicenter brain magnetic resonance images (MRIs) from cognitively unimpaired ε2 homozygotes were matched (1:1) against all other APOE genotypes for relevant confounders (n = 223). GM volumes of ε2 genotypic groups were compared to each other and to the reference group (APOE ε3/ε3). RESULTS: Carrying at least one ε2 allele was associated with larger GM volumes in brain areas typically affected by AD and also in areas associated with cognitive resilience. APOE ε2 homozygotes, but not APOE ε2 heterozygotes, showed larger GM volumes in areas related to successful aging. DISCUSSION: In addition to the known resistance against amyloid-ß deposition, the larger GM volumes in key brain regions may confer APOE ε2 homozygotes additional protection against AD-related cognitive decline.

Deep learning from MRI-derived labels enables automatic brain tissue classification on human brain CT.

Automatic methods for feature extraction, volumetry, and morphometric analysis in clinical neuroscience typically operate on images obtained with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging equipment. Although CT scans are less expensive to acquire and more widely available than MR scans, their application is currently limited to the visual assessment of brain integrity and the exclusion of co-pathologies. CT has rarely been used for tissue classification because the contrast between grey matter and white matter was considered insufficient. In this study, we propose an automatic method for segmenting grey matter (GM), white matter (WM), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and intracranial volume (ICV) from head CT images. A U-Net deep learning model was trained and validated on CT images with MRI-derived segmentation labels. We used data from 744 participants of the Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies for whom CT and T1-weighted MR images had been acquired on the same day. Our proposed model predicted brain tissue classes accurately from unseen CT images (Dice coefficients of 0.79, 0.82, 0.75, 0.93 and 0.98 for GM, WM, CSF, brain volume and ICV, respectively). To contextualize these results, we generated benchmarks based on established MR-based methods and intentional image degradation. Our findings demonstrate that CT-derived segmentations can be used to delineate and quantify brain tissues, opening new possibilities for the use of CT in clinical practice and research.

Time dependence in diffusion MRI predicts tissue outcome in ischemic stroke patients.

PURPOSE: Reperfusion therapy enables effective treatment of ischemic stroke presenting within 4-6 hours. However, tissue progression from ischemia to infarction is variable, and some patients benefit from treatment up until 24 hours. Improved imaging techniques are needed to identify these patients. Here, it was hypothesized that time dependence in diffusion MRI may predict tissue outcome in ischemic stroke. METHODS: Diffusion MRI data were acquired with multiple diffusion times in five non-reperfused patients at 2, 9, and 100 days after stroke onset. Maps of "rate of kurtosis change" (k), mean kurtosis, ADC, and fractional anisotropy were derived. The ADC maps defined lesions, normal-appearing tissue, and the lesion tissue that would either be infarcted or remain viable by day 100. Diffusion parameters were compared (1) between lesions and normal-appearing tissue, and (2) between lesion tissue that would be infarcted or remain viable. RESULTS: Positive values of k were observed within stroke lesions on day 2 (P = .001) and on day 9 (P = .023), indicating diffusional exchange. On day 100, high ADC values indicated infarction of 50 ± 20% of the lesion volumes. Tissue infarction was predicted by high k values both on day 2 (P = .026) and on day 9 (P = .046), by low mean kurtosis values on day 2 (P = .043), and by low fractional anisotropy values on day 9 (P = .029), but not by low ADC values. CONCLUSIONS: Diffusion time dependence predicted tissue outcome in ischemic stroke more accurately than the ADC, and may be useful for predicting reperfusion benefit.

Midlife Atherosclerosis and Development of Alzheimer or Vascular Dementia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether midlife atherosclerosis is associated with different dementia subtypes and related underlying pathologies. METHODS: Participants comprised the cardiovascular cohort of the Swedish prospective population-based Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (N = 6,103). Carotid plaques and intima media thickness (IMT) were measured at baseline (1991-1994). Dementia incidence until 2014 was obtained from national registers. Diagnoses were reviewed and validated in medical records. In a cognitively unimpaired subcohort (n = 330), ß-amyloid42 and tau were quantified in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and white matter hyperintensity volume, lacunar infarcts, and cerebral microbleeds were estimated on magnetic resonance imaging (2009-2015). RESULTS: During 20 years of follow-up, 462 individuals developed dementia (mean age at baseline = 57.5 ± 5.9 years, 58% women). Higher IMT in midlife was associated with an increased hazard ratio (HR) of all-cause dementia (adjusted HR = 1.14 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.03-1.26]) and vascular dementia (adjusted HR = 1.32 [95% CI = 1.10-1.57]) but not Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia (adjusted HR = 0.95 [95% CI = 0.77-1.17]). Carotid plaques were associated with vascular dementia when assessed as a 3-graded score (adjusted HR = 1.90 [95% CI = 1.07-3.38]). In the cognitively unimpaired subcohort (53.8 ± 4.6 years at baseline, 60% women), higher IMT in midlife was associated with development of small vessel disease (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.47 [95% CI = 1.05-2.06]) but not significantly with abnormal CSF AD biomarkers (adjusted OR = 1.28 [95% CI = 0.87-1.90] for Aß42 and 1.35 [95% CI = 0.86-2.13] for Aß42 /p-tau). Carotid plaques revealed no significant association with any of the underlying brain pathologies. INTERPRETATION: Our findings support an association between midlife atherosclerosis and development of vascular dementia and cerebral small vessel disease but not between atherosclerosis and subsequent AD dementia or AD pathology. ANN NEUROL 2020;87:52-62.

Brain white matter lesions are associated with reduced hypothalamic volume and cranial radiotherapy in childhood-onset craniopharyngioma.

CONTEXT: White matter lesions (WML) are caused by obstruction of small cerebral vessels associated with stroke risk. Craniopharyngioma (CP) patients suffer from increased cerebrovascular mortality. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of reduced HT volume and cranial radiotherapy (CRT) on WML in childhood-onset CP patients. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study of 41 patients (24 women) surgically treated childhood-onset CP in comparison to controls. SETTING: The South Medical Region of Sweden (2.5 million inhabitants). METHODS: With magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we analysed qualitative measurement of WML based on the visual rating scale of Fazekas and quantitative automated segmentation of WML lesion. Also, measurement HT volume and of cardiovascular risk factors were analysed. RESULTS: Patients had a significant increase in WML volume (mL) (P = .001) compared to controls. Treatment with cranial radiotherapy (CRT) vs no CRT was associated with increased WML volume (P = .02) as well as higher Fazekas score (P = .001). WML volume increased with years after CRT (r = 0.39; P = .02), even after adjustment for fat mass and age. A reduced HT volume was associated with increased WML volume (r = -0.61, P < .001) and explained 26% of the variation (r2  = 0.26). Altogether, 47% of the WML volume was explained by age at investigation, HT volume and CRT. Patients with more WML also had higher cardiovascular risk. CONCLUSIONS: CRT may be associated directly with increased WML volume or indirectly with reduced HT volume associated with higher cardiovascular risk. Risk factors should be carefully monitored in these patients.

Reporting frequency of radiology findings increases after introducing visual rating scales in the primary care diagnostic work up of subjective and mild cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVES: Study the effect of introducing a template for radiological reporting of non-enhanced computed tomography (NECT) in the primary care diagnostic work up of cognitive impairment using visual rating scales (VRS). METHODS: Radiology reports were assessed regarding compliance with a contextual report template and the reporting of the parameters medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA), white matter changes (WMC), global cortical atrophy (GCA), and width of lateral ventricles (WLV) using established VRS in two age-matched groups examined with NECT before (n = 111) and after (n = 125) the introduction of contextual reporting at our department. True positive rate (TPR) and true negative rate (TNR) before and after were compared. RESULTS: We observed a significant increase in the percentage of radiology reports with mentioning of MTA from 29 to 76% (p < 0.001), WMC from 69 to 86% (p < 0.01), and GCA from 54 to 82% (p < 0.001). We observed a significant increase in the percentages of reports where all of the parameters were mentioned, from 6 to 29% (p < 0.001). There was a significant increase in TPR from 10 to 55% for MTA. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that contextual radiological assessment using VRS could increase the reporting frequency of radiology findings in the diagnostic work up of cognitive impairment but compliance with templates may be difficult to endorse. KEY POINTS: • Introducing visual rating scales in clinical practice increases the reporting frequency of MTA, WMC, and GCA in the diagnostic work up of subjective and mild cognitive impairment. • Introducing visual rating scales has an effect on the true positive rate of reported MTA. • Compliance with contextual radiology templates remains low when use of the template is not enforced by the department leadership.