1. Free water levels in normal-appearing white matter predict vascular lesion progression in individuals with dementia
- Author
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Julie Ottoy, Joel Ramirez, Min Su Kang, Eric Yin, Miracle Ozzoude, Katherine Zukotynski, Walter Swardfager, Christopher Scott, Stephanie Berberian, Fuqiang Gao, Ginelle Feliciano, Lauren Abby Woods, Erin Gibson, Eric E. Smith, Nesrine Rahmouni, Joseph Therriault, Stijn Servaes, Robin Hsiung, Robert LaForce, Jr., Frank S. Prato, Phillip H. Kuo, Jean-Paul Soucy, Jean-Claude Tardif, Pedro Rosa-Neto, Sandra E. Black, and Maged Goubran
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Specialties of internal medicine ,RC581-951 ,Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,RC321-571 - Abstract
Introduction: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is a common co-pathology in elderly and individuals with dementia. Neuroimaging markers of SVD include white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and MRI-visible perivascular spaces (PVS). However, the mechanisms underlying changes in these markers over time, whether ischemic or beta-amyloid (Aβ)-related, remain elusive. Here, we evaluated the effects of microstructural injury in the normal-appearing white matter and Aβ in the cerebral cortex on the progression of WMH and PVS over three years. Methods: Data was obtained from two independent cohorts: (i) TRIAD, comprising cognitively normal, MCI, and AD dementia participants (baseline: N=199, follow-up year 1 and 2: N=102 and 62); and (ii) MITNEC-C6, comprising “real-world” patients with mixed dementia and moderate-to- severe WMH burden (baseline: N=52, 2 years follow-up: N=25). We quantified global WMH and PVS volumes from FLAIR and T1w MRI. At baseline, we examined associations between these volumes and diffusion MRI-derived free water. Longitudinally, we employed linear [mixed-effect] models to investigate the relation of WMH or PVS volume changes over time with baseline free water, using cortical Aβ-PET, age, sex, and APOE-ε4 as covariates. Results: In TRIAD and MITNEC-C6 respectively, mean ages were 72±6 and 77±8 y, 60% and 42% were female, and 41% and 48% were Aβ-positive. At baseline, higher free water in normal- appearing white matter was associated with higher WMH volume (β_TRIAD=+0.34±0.06, P_TRIAD
- Published
- 2024
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