Diffusion Tensor Imaging Analysis In Patients Of Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Disease And Correlation With Cognitive Dysfunction

Objective To perform diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) atlas-based analysis(ABA) ondetecting white matter (WM) damage in subcortical ischemic vascular disease(SIVD)patients and to investigate the correlations between DTI measures and cognitivedysfunction in these patients.Methods Twenty-two vascular cognitive impairment no dementia(VCIND) patientsand twenty-eight normal cognition(NC) patients were recruited and underwent inDTI scanning and neuropsychological testing. Atlas-based analysis, extracted FA andMD measures were performed for supratentorial white matter(WM) tracts on eachsubject. Inter-group difference was compared between VCIND and NC group.Moreover, the correlations between DTI and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)were assessed.Results Among VCIND, as compared to NC patients, decreased FA and increasedMD were observed in multiple supratentorial WM tracts, including Projectionfibers(bilateral anterior, posterior limb and retrolenticular part of internal capsule,anterior, superior and posterior corona radiata and posterior thalamic radiation),Association fibers(bilateral sagittal stratum，external capsule, cingulum, fornix andstria terminalis, superior longitudinal fasciculus, superior fronto-occipital fasciculusand uncinate fasciculus) and Commissural fibers(genu, body, splenium and biliteraltapetum of corpus callosum). Furthermore, MoCA score was demonstrated to becorrelated with DTI measure in WM tract as described above.Conclusion The results suggested that SIVD patients demonstrated abnormal WMconnectivity in a widespread cerebro-anatomical network, involving projection,association and commissural fibers. Moreover, the severity of damage in WM tracts might be related with cognitive dysfunction in SIVD patients, and DTI atlas analysismight provide useful information in the further understanding VCIND.