Myelin-Weighted Imaging Presents Reduced Apparent Myelin Water in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease
Seung-Hyun Lim,
Jiyoon Lee,
Sumin Jung,
Bokyung Kim,
Hak Young Rhee,
Se-Hong Oh,
Soonchan Park,
Ah Rang Cho,
Chang-Woo Ryu,
Geon-Ho Jahng
Affiliations
Seung-Hyun Lim
Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, 892 Dongnam-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 05278, Korea
Jiyoon Lee
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Undergraduate School, College of Electronics and Information, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si 17104, Korea
Sumin Jung
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Undergraduate School, College of Electronics and Information, Kyung Hee University, 1732 Deogyeong-daero, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si 17104, Korea
Bokyung Kim
Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, 892 Dongnam-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 05278, Korea
Hak Young Rhee
Department of Neurology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, 892 Dongnam-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 05278, Korea
Se-Hong Oh
Division of Biomedical Engineering, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Yongin 17035, Korea
Soonchan Park
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyung Hee Dae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Korea
Ah Rang Cho
Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyung Hee Dae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02447, Korea
Chang-Woo Ryu
Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, 892 Dongnam-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 05278, Korea
Geon-Ho Jahng
Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, 892 Dongnam-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 05278, Korea
The purpose of this study was to investigate myelin loss in both AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients with a new myelin water mapping technique within reasonable scan time and evaluate the clinical relevance of the apparent myelin water fraction (MWF) values by assessing the relationship between decreases in myelin water and the degree of memory decline or aging. Twenty-nine individuals were assigned to the cognitively normal (CN) elderly group, 32 participants were assigned to the MCI group, and 31 patients were assigned to the AD group. A 3D visualization of the short transverse relaxation time component (ViSTa)-gradient and spin-echo (GraSE) sequence was developed to map apparent MWF. Then, the MWF values were compared between the three participant groups and was evaluated the relationship with the degree of memory loss. The AD group showed a reduced apparent MWF compared to the CN and MCI groups. The largest AUC (area under the curve) value was in the corpus callosum and used to classify the CN and AD groups using the apparent MWF. The ViSTa-GraSE sequence can be a useful tool to map the MWF in a reasonable scan time. Combining the MWF in the corpus callosum with the detection of atrophy in the hippocampus can be valuable for group classification.
