1. Can post-mortem MRI be used as a proxy for in vivo? A case study
- Author
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Philip Scheltens, Matthijs J Keijzer, Wilma D.J. van de Berg, Laura E. Jonkman, Baayla D.C. Boon, Annemieke J.M. Rozemuller, Femke H. Bouwman, Petra J. W. Pouwels, Frederik Barkhof, Martijn D. Steenwijk, Paolo Preziosa, Jeroen J. G. Geurts, Neurology, Pathology, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Neurodegeneration, Radiology and nuclear medicine, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Brain Imaging, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Cellular & Molecular Mechanisms, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Compulsivity, Impulsivity & Attention, Amsterdam Neuroscience - Neuroinfection & -inflammation, Anatomy and neurosciences, CCA - Imaging and biomarkers, CCA - Cancer Treatment and quality of life, CCA - Cancer biology and immunology, and Amsterdam Neuroscience - Complex Trait Genetics
- Subjects
medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,General Engineering ,Magnetic resonance imaging ,Grey matter ,medicine.disease ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,White matter ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Atrophy ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Fractional anisotropy ,Brain size ,medicine ,Medical imaging ,business ,Nuclear medicine ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Diffusion MRI - Abstract
Post-mortem in situ MRI has been used as an intermediate between brain histo(patho)logy and in vivo imaging. However, it is not known how comparable post-mortem in situ is to ante-mortem imaging. We report the unique situation of a patient with familial early-onset Alzheimer’s disease due to a PSEN1 mutation, who underwent ante-mortem brain MRI and post-mortem in situ imaging only 4 days apart. T1-weighted and diffusion MRI was performed at 3-Tesla at both time points. Visual atrophy rating scales, brain volume, cortical thickness and diffusion measures were derived from both scans and compared. Post-mortem visual atrophy scores decreased 0.5–1 point compared with ante-mortem, indicating an increase in brain volume. This was confirmed by quantitative analysis; showing a 27% decrease of ventricular and 7% increase of whole-brain volume. This increase was more pronounced in the cerebellum and supratentorial white matter than in grey matter. Furthermore, axial and radial diffusivity decreased up to 60% post-mortem whereas average fractional anisotropy of white matter increased approximately 10%. This unique case study shows that the process of dying affects several imaging markers. These changes need to be taken into account when interpreting post-mortem MRI to make inferences on the in vivo situation.
- Published
- 2019