Bing Zhang, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Bin Zhu, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Wan hua Guo, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Junkun Chen, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To investigate alterations of ADC value in aMCI. To analyze ADC maps by using Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). To verify the accuracy of Brain Search (BS) software for ADC maps, designed by authors of this article, based on brain functional area automatic extraction method.

Scans were made on a 1.5T clinical MRI scanner (Philips Intera Master Medical Systems, Netherlands) with a standard quadrature head coil. Conventional MRI and DWI-ADC were administered to 16 patients with AD, 19 with aMCI, and 15 normal controls (NC) (Petersen and NINCDS/ADRDA criteria). The b values in DWI with FLAIR sequence were set at 0 mm2/s and 1000 mm2/s. The independent ADC map was analyzed by using BS and SPM, respectively. The significantly different functional brain areas among groups were recognized automatically as colorized coded areas by the software.

ADC value in hippocampus among NC, aMCI and AD  were significantly different (P < 0.05). The localization, magnitude and extent of abnormalities on ADC maps were observed. The number of areas shown on the maps analyzed by using SPM was more than that by using BS. However, bigger areas and brightener color were found on the maps analyzed by using BS than by using SPM. ADC values in the left limbic system (Uncus, Anterior Cingulate, Brodmann area 29) were found significantly different among all groups by using both BS and SPM. Besides the left limbic system, other brain areas mapped are: the right Rectal Gyrus etc. between NC and aMCI; the right frontal lobe etc. between aMCI and AD; the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus etc. between NC and AD.

Alterations of ADC in the hippocampus are helpful to clinical diagnosis in aMCI. Significantly different brain areas of ADC value are only located in the left limbic system, not in the right. And ADC values in the left limbic system and the right frontal lobe are significantly different among groups, which might be initial involvement in aMCI. Significantly different areas of ADC value, shown in an intuitive way, analyzed by BS are helpful to find more obvious areas than SPM. We hope these new insights will take the analytic mapping of ADC value into diagnostic assessment in aMCI and AD.

Measures of ADC acquired from diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) can quantify the alterations in water diffusivity resulting from microscopic structural changes in aMCI and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Zhang, B, Zhu, B, Guo, W, Chen, J, Evaluation of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) Map by Using Image Analysis Software in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI).  Radiological Society of North America 2009 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 29 - December 4, 2009 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2009/8001296.html