Advanced diffusion-weighted MRI metrics detect sex differences in aging among 15,000 adults in the UK Biobank

Katherine E. Lawrence; Leila Nabulsi; Vigneshwaran Santhalingam; Zvart Abaryan; Julio E. Villalon-Reina; Talia M. Nir; Iyad Ba Gari; Alyssa H. Zhu; Elizabeth Haddad; Alexandra M. Muir; Neda Jahanshad; Paul M. Thompson

doi:10.1117/12.2579622

3 November 2020 Advanced diffusion-weighted MRI metrics detect sex differences in aging among 15,000 adults in the UK Biobank

Katherine E. Lawrence, Leila Nabulsi, Vigneshwaran Santhalingam, Zvart Abaryan, Julio E. Villalon-Reina, Talia M. Nir, Iyad Ba Gari, Alyssa H. Zhu, Elizabeth Haddad, Alexandra M. Muir, Neda Jahanshad, Paul M. Thompson

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11583, 16th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis; 1158307 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2579622
Event: The 16th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis, 2020, Lima, Peru

Abstract

The brain’s white matter microstructure, as assessed using diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), changes significantly with age and also exhibits significant sex differences. Here we examined the ability of a traditional diffusivity metric (fractional anisotropy derived from diffusion tensor imaging, DTI-FA) and advanced diffusivity metrics (fractional anisotropy derived from the tensor distribution function, TDF-FA; neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging measures of intracellular volume fraction, NODDI-ICVF; orientation dispersion index, NODDI-ODI; and isotropic volume fraction, NODDI-ISOVF) to detect sex differences in white matter aging. We also created normative aging reference curves based on sex. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) applies a single-tensor diffusion model to single-shell DWI data, while the tensor distribution function (TDF) fits a continuous distribution of tensors to single-shell DWI data. Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) fits a multi-compartment model to multi-shell DWI data to distinguish intra- and extracellular contributions to diffusion. We analyzed these traditional and advanced diffusion measures in a large population sample available through the UK Biobank (15,394 participants; age-range: 45-80 years) by using linear regression and fractional polynomials. Advanced diffusivity metrics (NODDI-ODI, NODDI-ISOVF, TDF-FA) detected significant sex differences in aging, whereas a traditional metric (DTI-FA) did not. These findings suggest that future studies examining sex differences in white matter aging may benefit from including advanced diffusion measures.

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Katherine E. Lawrence, Leila Nabulsi, Vigneshwaran Santhalingam, Zvart Abaryan, Julio E. Villalon-Reina, Talia M. Nir, Iyad Ba Gari, Alyssa H. Zhu, Elizabeth Haddad, Alexandra M. Muir, Neda Jahanshad, and Paul M. Thompson "Advanced diffusion-weighted MRI metrics detect sex differences in aging among 15,000 adults in the UK Biobank", Proc. SPIE 11583, 16th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis, 1158307 (3 November 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2579622

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