ISMRM 24th Annual Meeting & Exhibition • 07-13 May 2016 • Singapore

Combined Educational & Scientific Session: Alzheimer's Disease

Skill Level: Intermediate

Organizer: Andrew L. Alexander, Ph.D., Kelvin Lim, M.D.

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Overview
This session will explore the utility of MRI in the assessment of brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Specifically, the educational portions will describe the clinical progression of AD, current techniques for diagnosing and staging AD, and the applications of MRI for diagnosis, staging and clinical trials.

Target Audience
Clinicians, physicists and researchers that are interested in the applications of MRI to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants should be able to:

  • Select an MRI protocol that is useful for studying the disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease;
  • Hypothesize potential mechanisms for MRI changes in Alzheimer’s disease; and
  • Apply MRI methods to clinical trials of Alzheimer’s disease.

PROGRAM
Moderators: Michael Zeineh, Flavio Dell'Acqua
10:00
 
  
 
Alzheimer's Disease
Tammie Benzinger1
1Washington University in Saint Louis, School of Medicine; Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology
10:30
0627.   
Neurodegeneration simulation in the connectome: a heuristic approach to unfold the key white matter pathways in Alzheimer’s disease
Matteo Mancini1, Marcel A. de Reus2, Laura Serra3, Marco Bozzali3, Martijn van den Heuvel2, Mara Cercignani3,4, and Silvia Conforto1
1Department of Engineering, University of Rome "Roma Tre", Rome, Italy, 2Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands, 3Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCSS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy, 4Brighton & Sussex Medical School, Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
In order to identify the white matter impairment that could lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we combined computational simulations with a graph theoretical approach. We reconstructed the structural connectome of AD patients and healthy controls by means of diffusion tensor imaging, and characterized the differences between the two groups using graph theoretical measures. We then simulated neurodegeneration processes in the controls using two different heuristic algorithms. We were able to reproduce the AD disruption pattern in the controls, and we observed a relevant role of the connections between hubs and peripheral regions in the simulated damaging process.

 
10:45
 
0628.   
A New Biomarker for Neuroinflammation in Preclinical Alzheimer’s disease Progression
Yong Wang1,2,3, Qing Wang2,4, Joshua S Shimony2, Anne M Fagan4,5, John C Morris5,6, and Tammie L.S. Benzinger2,6,7
1Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 2Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 3Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 4Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, St. Louis, MO, United States, 5Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, 6Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, St. Louis, MO, United States, 7Neurosurgery, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States
The preclinical pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is not limited to the neuronal compartments. Neuroinflammation characterized by activation of microglia and astrocytes may contribute as much to AD disease pathogenesis as do amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. We demonstrated that a novel magnetic resonance imaging technique, diffusion basis spectrum imaging (DBSI), can accurately image neuroinflammation changes that occur in preclinical AD patients. DBSI neuroinflammation biomarker can be used to identify asymptomatic subjects at highest risk of developing dementia, and lead to effective new AD disease-modifying therapies targeting neuroinflammation.

 
11:00
 
  
 
Network-sensitive structural and functional MR imaging methods
Juan Zhou1
1Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience and Behavioral Disorders Program, Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School, Singapore
Each neurodegenerative disease is defined by selectively vulnerable neurons, regions, networks, and functions, as well as genetic risk factors. In the past decade, new network-sensitive neuroimaging methods have made it possible to test the notion of network-based degeneration in living humans. In this talk, the basic theory/preprocessing/data analyses of these methods including structural covariance networks (MRI), functional connectivity (fMRI-BOLD) and structural connectivity (Diffusion MRI) will be introduced. We will focus on applications of these network-sensitive methods on two common causes of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia. Lastly, important frontiers in the field of network-based neurodegeneration will be reviewed.

 
11:30
 
0629.   
Changed Brain Connectivity in Elderly APOE e4 Carriers: a Whole-brain Voxel-wise Functional Connectivity Strength Analysis
Kai Liu1, Teng Zhang1, Yanjia Deng1, Lin Shi2,3, Defeng Wang4,5, and ADNI Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 6
1Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 3Chow Yuk Ho Technology Centre for Innovative Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 4Research Center for Medical Image Computing, Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 5Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China, People's Republic of, 6Los Angeles, SC, United States
Apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele (APOE-4) is considered as the strongest genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and investigation of its neuropathological effect in normal elderly using advanced neuroimaging connectivity probes has brought much research curiosity. In this study, the underlying abnormal brain connectivity in APOE-4 carriers was analyzed using the functional connectivity strength (FCS), which provides a voxel-wise method to explore the significant connectivity changes at whole-brain level. The results identified APOE-4 related significant connectivity decrease in the bilateral insular and left temporal lobe. We hope these findings could help to shed light on the APOE-4’s neuropathological mechanism.

 
11:45
 
0630.   
Who will develop Alzheimer’s disease? New insights from multimodal neuroimaging
Letizia Casiraghi1,2, Fulvia Palesi2,3, Gloria Castellazzi2,4, Andrea De Rinaldis2,4, Elena Sinforiani5, Claudia Angela Michela Gandini Wheeler-­Kingshott 2,6, Egidio D'Angelo1,2, and Carol Di Perri2
1Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, 2Brain Connectivity Center, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy, 3Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, 4Department of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, 5Neurology Unit, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy, 6NMR Research Unit, Queen Square MS Centre, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a transitional state between healthy controls (HC) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study compares the predictive value of neuropsychological evaluation, structural magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging and resting state functional MRI indices able to identify MCI conversion. AD versus HC and converted MCI (cMCI) versus non-converted MCI (ncMCI) presented different features of differentiation. This result suggests adopting advanced MRI techniques to investigate early alterations. Due to the clinical heterogeneity of MCI patients, considering cMCI as AD-like and ncMCI as HC might be inappropriate when attempting to distinguishing between cMCI and non-converted MCI.

 
12:00
 
  
 
Adjournment & Meet the Teachers
         
 

The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.