White matter microstructure alterations in frontotemporal dementia: Phenotype-associated signatures and single-subject interpretation.
Brain Behav
; 12(2): e2500, 2022 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35072974
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Frontotemporal dementias (FTD) include a genetically heterogeneous group of conditions with distinctive molecular, radiological and clinical features. The majority of radiology studies in FTD compare FTD subgroups to healthy controls to describe phenotype- or genotype-associated imaging signatures. While the characterization of group-specific imaging traits is academically important, the priority of clinical imaging is the meaningful interpretation of individual datasets.METHODS:
To demonstrate the feasibility of single-subject magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) interpretation, we have evaluated the white matter profile of 60 patients across the clinical spectrum of FTD. A z-score-based approach was implemented, where the diffusivity metrics of individual patients were appraised with reference to demographically matched healthy controls. Fifty white matter tracts were systematically evaluated in each subject with reference to normative data.RESULTS:
The z-score-based approach successfully detected white matter pathology in single subjects, and group-level inferences were analogous to the outputs of standard track-based spatial statistics.CONCLUSIONS:
Our findings suggest that it is possible to meaningfully evaluate the diffusion profile of single FTD patients if large normative datasets are available. In contrast to the visual review of FLAIR and T2-weighted images, computational imaging offers objective, quantitative insights into white matter integrity changes even at single-subject level.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Leucoaraiose
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Demência Frontotemporal
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Substância Branca
Tipo de estudo:
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article