Abstract #2604

Elucidating the influence of healthy aging on white matter microstructure: A comparison of different diffusion MRI models

Salman Shahid¹, Qixiang Lin¹, Antoine Hone-Blanchet¹, Allan Levey¹, James Lah¹, Bruce Crosson^1,2, and Deqiang Qiu^2,3

¹Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States, ²Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States, ³Joint Department of BioMedical Engineering, Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States

To understand microstructural changes associated with healthy aging, multi-shell diffusion-weighted images were acquired in a group of 71 cognitively normal volunteers (31-young, 40-old). Signal representation and tissue specific models were used to assess relationship between age and WM microstructural changes. TBSS was performed for group-comparison. Results showed that FA and NODDI-based indices exhibited highest degree of sensitivity with overlap in much wider regions. The results also showed regional differences among FA and ODI. The influence of DKI was more regionalized and complemented by FA. The study demonstrated the sensitivity of higher-order models to the age-related changes in tissue microstructure.

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