Abstract #2681
The Relation between Free-Water, Atrophy and Microstructural Pathologies in Retired NFL Players A Combined Diffusion MRI and MRS study
Ofer Pasternak 1 , Robert A. Stern 2 , Michelle Y. Giwerc 1 , Charles Yergatian 1 , Sai Merugumala 1 , Huijun Liao 1 , Christine M. Baugh 2 , Carl-Fredrik Westin 1 , Martha E. Shenton 1,3 , and Alexander P. Lin 1
1
Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts, United States,
2
Boston
University, Boston, MA, United States,
3
VA
Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA, United States
Recent diffusion models include a free-water compartment
accounting for extracellular water molecules not bounded
by tissue membranes. In order to reveal the relation
between free-water volume and underlying pathologies we
correlate the measure with metabolite counts that were
obtained in MR spectroscopy. We tested 49 retired
National Football League (NFL) players at high risk for
having chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and 14
controls. We find free-water differences between the
groups, and that free-water mainly correlates with NAA,
suggesting sensitivity to atrophy. By covarying for NAA
we find that free-water correlates with other
metabolites that suggest sensitivity to
neuroinflammation and gliosis.
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