Dados do Trabalho

Título

White Matter Free Water in Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: a diffusion-based study

Descrição sucinta do(s) objetivo(s)

We aimed to investigate whether a recently developed diffusion-based neuroimaging biomarker, called mean free water (FW), is elevated in cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) patients compared to non-CAA subjects. We assessed FW's neuroimaging and cognitive associations in CAA compared to other conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD).

Material(is) e método(s)

Participants were recruited from an on-going memory-clinic cohort comprised of elderly individuals with cognitive complaints, and stratified into CAA and non-CAA groups according to the Boston criteria version 2.0. FW was computed using a freely available pipeline developed by the MarkVCID cSVD biomarker consortium. We compared FW values between the groups. Within the CAA group, we further explored FW's association with other conventional neuroimaging markers of cSVD and with the cognitive performance in multiple domains using linear regression models.

Resultados e discussão

In total, 91 probable-CAA and 38 non-CAA patients were included in the study. FW values were higher (0.24± 0.04; mean ± SD) in the CAA than in the non-CAA group ( 0.19 ± 0.03; p< 0.0001). Within the CAA group, in multivariable regression analyses adjusted for age, FW was independently associated with white matter hyperintensities (β=2.1, p=.0002), presence of cortical superficial siderosis (β=0.02, p=.02), and the burden of perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale (β=0.02, p=.009). In simple linear regression models, FW was associated with mini mental status examination Z scores (β=-16.9, p=.03), memory (β=-7.7, p=.03), language (β=-9.1, p=.02), and executive function (β=-6.6, p=.05), but these associations did not remain significant after adjusting for other neuroimaging markers.

Conclusões

Patients with CAA have higher FW values compared to non-CAA controls, and these values are associated with a higher burden of several conventional MRI markers of cSVD. FW's cognitive associations were not independent of other neuroimaging cSVD markers in this CAA sample.

Palavras Chave

free water; diffusion; cerebral amyloid angiopathy

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