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Diffusion tensor imaging reveals abnormal brain networks in elderly subjects with subjective cognitive deficits

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Abstract

Purpose

Some elders with subjective cognitive deficits (SCD) develop prodromal phase of dementia over time; however, little is known about how they differ from those with normal cognition (NC). Thus, we aim to distinguish the differences in the brain network of elders with SCD and NC.

Methods

Multiple diffusion-weighted images (DWI) and T1-weighted images were obtained from 18 subjects with NC and 26 subjects with SCD. Using network-based statistics (NBS) analysis, we extracted abnormal brain subnetworks and localized abnormal brain connectivity. We also ran correlation analysis to compare the affected regions and the results of the neurocognitive assessments.

Results

Altered subnetworks were found in the superior parietal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulum, putamen, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and paracentral lobule. They were also associated with scores on the word list recall, word list recognition, and Boston naming test.

Conclusions

Elders with SCD had distinctive brain network alterations when compared with those of elders with NC. The results are also in line with the previously identified characteristics of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a milder form. We speculate that it may be possible to predict AD progression early in the SCD stage using NBS analysis.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) that was funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HG.J., HC15C1509, HG.J and CE.H., HI19C0645); the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (HG.J., NRF-2015R1C1A1A01052172); and the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education of the Government of the Republic of Korea (CE.H., 2016R1D1A1B03934990).

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Author notes

  1. Daegyeom Kim and Suji Lee contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea

    Daegyeom Kim, Myungwon Choi & Cheol E. Han

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Korea University Graduate School, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Suji Lee & Hyun-Ghang Jeong

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    HyunChul Youn & Hyun-Ghang Jeong

  4. Department of Radiology, Korea University Guro Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Sangil Suh

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  1. Daegyeom Kim
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Contributions

HG. Jeong and CE. Han designed the study and supervised the data collection, data analysis, and writing. S. Lee and H. Youn collected the neuroimaging and neurocognitive data and wrote the article. D. Kim and M. Choi carried out the data analysis and wrote the article. Lastly, S. Suh was responsible for data acquisition, subject selection, and quality controls.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hyun-Ghang Jeong or Cheol E. Han.

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Kim, D., Lee, S., Choi, M. et al. Diffusion tensor imaging reveals abnormal brain networks in elderly subjects with subjective cognitive deficits. Neurol Sci 40, 2333–2342 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-019-03981-6

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