ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the gray and white matter microstructures in the brain of patients with different degrees of chronic mountain sickness(CMS).Methods 30 cases of CMS (10 cases in each group divided into mild,moderate and severe groups according to the severity)were collected as experimental group,and 10 normal adults in high altitude area were collected as the normal control group.All cases underwent MRI conventional head sequences,diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI)sequences.The values of mean kurtosis(MK),radial kurtosis(RK),kurtosis anisotropy(KA)and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) graphs were reconstructed by post-processing software respectively.Selected the region of interest(ROI)symmetrically and fixedly, then measured and analyzed the parameter values of ROI in the same area.Results Compared the CMS groups with normal control group,the diffusion parameters and ADC values in certain parts of deep gray matter nucleus and white matter fibers were statistically significant,and the difference was significant with the progression of the disease.Conclusion DKI combined with DWI has certain value in evaluating the gray and white matter microstructure of human brain,there are some difference in the brain microstructure between CMS patients and high altitude normal subjects,additionally,the difference in different degrees of CMS is diverse.