Abstract
Cortical thickness is traditionally derived from T1-weighted MRI images. Recent studies have shown an improvement in segmentation with the combination of T1 + T2-FLAIR images. MRI data from 54 adults (mean: 71 years, 65–81 years, 48% females) that are part of an ongoing cohort study were analyzed to investigate whether T1 + T2-FLAIR cortical thickness measurements were superior to those derived from T1-weighted images in identifying age-related atrophy. T1-weighted and T2-FLAIR MRI images were processed through FreeSurfer v6.0. Data was extracted using the Desikan-Killiany (DKT) atlas. FreeSurfer’s GUI QDEC examined age-related atrophy. Nonparametric tests, effect sizes, and Pearson correlations examined differences between T1-only and T1 + T2-FLAIR cortical thickness data. These analyses demonstrated that T1 + T2-FLAIR processed images significantly improved the segmentation of gray matter (chi-square x2, p < 0.05) and demonstrated significantly thicker cortical thickness means (p < 0.05) with medium to large effect sizes. Significant regions of age-related cortical atrophy were identified within the T1 + T2-FLAIR data (FDR corrected, p < 0.05). This is in contrast to the T1-only data where no regions survived FDR correction. In summary, T1 + T2-FLAIR data were associated with significant improvement in cortical segmentation and the identification of age-related cortical atrophy. Future studies should consider employing this imaging strategy to obtain cortical thickness measurements sensitive to age-related changes.
Highlights
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of T1 + T2-FLAIR data demonstrated higher correlation with age than T1-only data in a cohort of young to middle age participants[25]. These studies suggest that T1 + T2-FLAIR derived cortical thickness measures lead to decreased segmentation errors and may increase the ability to identify age-related changes
Since multimodal imaging using both T1 + T2-FLAIR sequences is associated with increased cost and time spent in the scanner, it is important to investigate whether the potential gain in measurement precision is worth the additional time and money
Cortical thickness data from T1-only and T1 + T2-FLAIR processed images were extracted from FreeSurfer using the 68-region, 34-per hemisphere, Desikan-Killiany Atlas (DKT) atlas adjusted for scanner-type with the ComBat harmonization tool[26,27]
Summary
Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis of T1 + T2-FLAIR data demonstrated higher correlation with age than T1-only data in a cohort of young to middle age participants[25] Taken together, these studies suggest that T1 + T2-FLAIR derived cortical thickness measures lead to decreased segmentation errors and may increase the ability to identify age-related changes. The purpose of the present study was to quantify the differences between T1-only and T1 + T2-FLAIR surface-based cortical thickness measures and to investigate the ability of T1 + T2-FLAIR data to identify age-related atrophy in a cohort of older adults, compared to T1-only data. Since multimodal imaging using both T1 + T2-FLAIR sequences is associated with increased cost and time spent in the scanner, it is important to investigate whether the potential gain in measurement precision is worth the additional time and money
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