Experience of using MRI morphometry in Huntington’s disease

Abstract

One of the most important inherited neurodegenerative disorders,Huntingtons disease (HD), is characterized by cerebral atrophy,the features of which need to be clarified. MRI morphometryallows assessing quantitatively the atrophy of different brainregions, and this method may be regarded as a potential biomarkerof neurodegeneration. We used whole-brain voxel-based morphometry(VBM) and region-of-interest (ROI) morphometry in24 patients with HD, 10 preclinical HD gene carriers and 9 controls.On whole-brain VBM patients had significantly lower greymatter in the caudate, the putamen, and the pre- and postcentralgyri bilaterally compared to controls, while on ROI morphometrythe grey matter volume decrease in patients was seen in the caudate,the putamen and the pallidum bilaterally. In clinically unaffectedgene carriers the pallidum, the putamen, and the pre-andpostcentral gyri bilaterally were larger and the left pallidum wassmaller compared to controls. We found more pronounced atrophyof a dominant hemisphere in patients and gene carriers, aswell as negative correlation between basal ganglia and corticalstructures volumes and the mutation severity, motor and cognitiveimpairment.

Keywords

• mri morphometry
• huntigton’s disease
• neurodegeneration