Abstract #4121

Fibre-specific white matter changes in Alzheimer's disease: novel insights from Fixel-Based Analysis

Remika Mito^1,2, David Raffelt¹, Thijs Dhollander¹, David N Vaughan^1,2,3, Olivier Salvado⁴, Amy Brodtmann^1,2,5, Christopher Rowe^6,7, Victor L Villemagne^2,6,7, and Alan Connelly^1,2

¹Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, ²Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, ³Department of Neurology, Austin Health, Victoria, Australia, ⁴Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, ⁵Eastern Clinical Research Unit, Box Hill Hospital, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, ⁶Department of Medicine, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, ⁷Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterised by extensive white matter disruption, however voxel-based studies have been unable to provide fibre-specific insight into how this alters brain connectivity. Here, we applied fixel-based analysis (FBA) to diffusion MRI data to investigate changes in AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. AD patients exhibited significant reductions in both fibre density and cross-section across multiple fibre tracts, while significant decreases in MCI were only evident in the posterior cingulum and uncinate, upon tract-of-interest analysis. This work demonstrates the value of FBA in identifying both macroscopic and microscopic changes to specific fibre pathways in the investigation of AD.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here