Corpus callosum integrity loss predicts cognitive impairment in Leukoaraiosis

Zhuonan Wang; Lijun Bai; Qi Liu; Shan Wang; Chuanzhu Sun; Ming Zhang; Yumei Zhang

doi:10.1002/acn3.51231

Corpus callosum integrity loss predicts cognitive impairment in Leukoaraiosis

Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2020 Dec;7(12):2409-2420. doi: 10.1002/acn3.51231. Epub 2020 Oct 29.

Authors

Zhuonan Wang^{1

2}, Lijun Bai¹, Qi Liu³, Shan Wang¹, Chuanzhu Sun¹, Ming Zhang², Yumei Zhang^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
² Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.
³ Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Rehabilitation, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
⁵ China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate regional white matter fibers loss in Leukoaraiosis (LA) and its relationship with cognitive impairments.

Methods: Fifty-six participants with LA and 38 healthy controls underwent clinical evaluations and MR scans. Participants with LA were classified as cognitively normal (LA-NC, n = 18), vascular cognitive impairment of none dementia (LA-VCIND, n = 24), and vascular dementia (LA-VaD, n = 14) by Mini-Mental State Examination and Clinical Dementia Rating. Cognitive domains including visual-spatial, naming, attention, language, abstraction, memory, and orientation were assessed. With the use of Tract-based spatial statistics, mean fractional anisotropy (FA) of major white matter fiber tracts were compared between LA and controls and among LA groups with varying levels of cognitive impairments. Regression analyses were performed to evaluate relationships between FA values and cognitive performance.

Results: Participants showed significant FA reduction in the corpus callosum (CC), bilateral corona radiata, anterior limb of the internal capsule, external capsule, posterior thalamic radiation, and superior longitudinal fasciculus compared to controls and across LA groups. The LA-VaD group showed consistent damage in the body and genu of CC compared to the LA-NC and LA-VCIND groups. A positive correlation between visual-spatial and FA reduction in right anterior corona radiates in LA-VCIND and body of CC in LA- VaD.

Interpretation: We found regional fiber loss in the CC across the cognitive spectrum in patients with LA and correlations between FA and visuospatial impairment in the anterior corona radiata in patients with LA-VCIND and in the body of CC in patients with LA-VaD.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cognitive Dysfunction / diagnosis
Cognitive Dysfunction / etiology
Cognitive Dysfunction / physiopathology*
Corpus Callosum / diagnostic imaging
Corpus Callosum / pathology*
Dementia, Vascular / diagnosis
Dementia, Vascular / etiology
Dementia, Vascular / physiopathology*
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Female
Humans
Leukoaraiosis / complications
Leukoaraiosis / diagnostic imaging
Leukoaraiosis / pathology*
Male
Middle Aged
White Matter / diagnostic imaging
White Matter / pathology*

Grants and funding

This work was funded by National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of The People’s Republic of China grant 2015BAI12B04; National Natural Science Foundation of China grants 81371201, 81571640, 81771914, 82001772, and 82071993; National Key Technology Research and Development Program of China grants 2015BAI12B02, 2018YFC2002300, and 2018YFC2002302; Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Clinical Medicine Development of Special Funding Support grant ZYLX201836.