Regional Quantification of White Matter Hyperintensity in Normal Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background/Aims: A quantitative method was applied to measure the volume of white matter hyperintensity (WMH) in different brain regions of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal healthy age-matched controls, and the relationship between regional WMH and age and cognitive function was investigated. Methods: Fifty-six subjects were included in this study, 27 AD, 15 MCI and 14 normal age-matched controls. A user-friendly software was developed for WMH quantification in frontal, temporal, and parieto-occipital lobes. Mini-Mental State Examination and cognitive scores in performing naming, language fluency, and memory tasks were obtained for correlation analysis. Results: AD patients had the greatest total WMH volume, followed by MCI, then controls. However, there was a large variation within each group, and the difference did not reach a significant level. There was a positive linear correlation between the total WMH (p = 0.031) and the frontal WMH (p = 0.006) vs. age. After age correction the Boston Naming Test scores were negatively correlated with the total WMH volume in the AD (p = 0.03) and the control (p = 0.03) groups, and with the frontal WMH in controls (p = 0.01). Conclusion: We demonstrated a quantitative analysis method to measure regional WMH. Although WMH was not strongly associated with disease severity or cognition, it may provide a characteristic neuroimaging parameter in the study of AD development.