scholarly journals White Matter Characteristics of Cognitive Impairment in Tap-Test Positive Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: A Diffusion Tensor Tract-Based Spatial Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufeng Tang ◽  
Xiaoqin Yuan ◽  
Jinfeng Duan ◽  
Xianwen Zhang ◽  
Jiao Chen ◽  
...  

The present study was designed to systemically evaluate changes in the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-derived parameters of iNPH (idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus) patients with different responses to the tap test (TT), and to correlate cognitive impairment with white matter (WM) degeneration. This study included 22 iNPH patients and 14 healthy controls with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and DTI scanning. DTI was used to explore the differences in fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD) for all participants. DTI parameters were evaluated using an ROI (region of interest)-based and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) approach. Neuropsychological assessments and the idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus grading scoring scale (iNPHGS) were performed. Compared to the TT non-responders, the TT responders group had significantly lower FA values in the corpus callosum, cingulum cingulate gyrus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and lower AD values in the right cingulum cingulate gyrus and the left posterior thalamic radiation. Besides, the MD values were significantly increased in the corpus callosum, left anterior corona radiata, and the RD values in the corpus callosum and cingulum cingulate gyrus. In addition, the cognitive improvement was negatively correlated with FA of the corpus callosum, cingulum cingulate gyrus, and MD values of the genu of corpus callosum. While, the cognitive improvement was positively related to the AD of the cingulum cingulate gyrus, superior longitudinal, and RD values of the corpus callosum, cingulum cingulate gyrus and uncinate fasciculus. The ROI specific WM lesions in iNPH patients are the underlying basis for cognitive impairment.

Neurosurgery ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (6) ◽  
pp. 1586-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niklas Lenfeldt ◽  
Anne Larsson ◽  
Lars Nyberg ◽  
Richard Birgander ◽  
Anders Eklund ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND: Idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is associated with white matter lesions, but the extent and severity of the lesions do not cohere with symptoms or improvement after shunting, implying the presence of further, yet undisclosed, injuries to white matter in INPH. OBJECTIVE: To apply diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to explore white matter lesions in patients with INPH before and after drainage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). METHODS: Eighteen patients and 10 controls were included. DTI was performed in a 1.5T MRI scanner before and after 3-day drainage of 400 mL of CSF. Regions of interest included corpus callosum, capsula interna, frontal and lateral periventricular white matter, and centrum semiovale. White matter integrity was quantified by assessing fractional anisotropies (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC), comparing them between patients and controls and between patients before and after drainage. The significance level corresponded to .05 (Bonferroni corrected). RESULTS: Decreased FA in patients was found in 3 regions (P < .002, P < .001, and P < .001) in anterior frontal white matter, whereas elevated ADC was found in genu corpus callosum (P < .001) and areas of centrum semiovale associated with the precentral gyri (P < .002). Diffusion patterns in these areas did not change after drainage. CONCLUSION: DTI reveals subtle injuries—interpreted as axonal loss and gliosis—to anterior frontal white matter where high-order motor systems between frontal cortex and basal ganglia travel, further supporting the notion that motor symptoms in INPH are caused by a chronic ischemia to the neuronal systems involved in the planning processes of movements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Eleftheriou ◽  
Ida Blystad ◽  
Anders Tisell ◽  
Johan Gasslander ◽  
Fredrik Lundin

AbstractIdiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is a disorder with unclear pathophysiology. The diagnosis of iNPH is challenging due to its radiological similarity with other neurodegenerative diseases and ischemic subcortical white matter changes. By using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) we explored differences in apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA) in iNPH patients (before and after a shunt surgery) and healthy individuals (HI) and we correlated the clinical results with DTI parameters. Thirteen consecutive iNPH-patients underwent a pre- and post-operative clinical work-up: 10 m walk time (w10mt) steps (w10ms), TUG-time (TUGt) and steps (TUGs); for cognitive function MMSE. Nine HI were included. DTI was performed before and 3 months after surgery, HI underwent DTI once. DTI differences analyzed by manually placing 12 regions-of-interest. In patients motor and balance function improved significantly after surgery (p = 0.01, p = 0.025). Higher nearly significant FA values found in the patients vs HI pre-operatively in the thalamus (p = 0.07) accompanied by an almost significant lower ADC (p = 0.08). Significantly FA and ADC-values were found between patients and HI in FWM (p = 0.02, p = 0.001) and almost significant (p = 0.057) pre- vs postoperatively. Postoperatively we found a trend towards the HIs FA values and a strong significant negative correlation between FA changes vs. gait results in the FWM (r = −0.7, p = 0.008). Our study gives a clear indication of an ongoing pathological process in the periventricular white matter, especially in the thalamus and in the frontal white matter supporting the hypothesis of a shunt reversible thalamo-cortical circuit dysfunction in iNPH.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 480-486
Author(s):  
Wei Pu ◽  
Xudong Shen ◽  
Mingming Huang ◽  
Zhiqian Li ◽  
Xianchun Zeng ◽  
...  

Objective: Application of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to explore the changes of FA value in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with mild cognitive impairment. Methods: 27 patients with PD were divided into PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) group (n = 7) and PD group (n = 20). The original images were processed using voxel-based analysis (VBA) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Results: The average age of pd-mci group was longer than that of PD group, and the course of disease was longer than that of PD group. Compared with PD group, the voxel based analysis-fractional anisotropy (VBA-FA) values of PD-MCI group decreased in the following areas: bilateral frontal lobe, bilateral temporal lobe, bilateral parietal lobe, bilateral subthalamic nucleus, corpus callosum, and gyrus cingula. Tract-based spatial statistics-fractional anisotropy (TBSS-FA) values in PD-MCI group decreased in bilateral corticospinal tract, anterior cingulum, posterior cingulum, fornix tract, bilateral superior thalamic radiation, corpus callosum(genu, body and splenium), bilateral uncinate fasciculus, bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and bilateral parietal-occipital tracts. The mean age of onset in the PD-MCI group was greater than that in the PD group, and the disease course was longer than that in the PD group. Conclusion: DTI-based VBA and TBSS post-processing methods can detect abnormalities in multiple brain areas and white matter fiber tracts in PD-MCI patients. Impairment of multiple cerebral cortex and white matter fiber pathways may be an important causes of cognitive dysfunction in PD-MCI.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Rydja ◽  
Andreas Eleftheriou ◽  
Fredrik Lundin

Abstract Background The cerebrospinal fluid tap test (CSF TT) is used for selecting shunt surgery candidates among patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). We aimed to evaluate the predictive value of the CSF TT, by using the Hellström iNPH scale for shunted iNPH patients with a standardized method. Methods One hundred and sixteen shunt-operated iNPH patients were retrospectively included in this study. The gait and balance domains in the iNPH scale were used as outcome measures for the CSF TT and the total iNPH scale score as the postoperative outcome. A positive response to CSF TT was defined as a change of ≥ 5 points in the gait domain and ≥ 16 points in the balance domain. Differences between CSF TT responders and non-responders, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, accuracy, and correlations between changes from baseline to post CSF TT and from baseline to the postoperative follow-up, were calculated. Results In the CSF TT there were 63.8% responders in the gait domain and correspondingly 44.3% in the balance domain. CSF TT responders had a significantly better postoperative outcome in the total scale score (gait P ≤ 0.001, balance P ≤ 0.012) and gait CSF TT responders improved more in gait (P ≤ 0.001) and balance CSF TT responders in balance (P ≤ 0.001). No differences between CSF TT gait or balance responders could be found in neuropsychological or urinary continence assessments postoperatively. The sensitivity and specificity of the CSF TT and the outcome of the total iNPH scale score postoperatively were 68.1% and 52.0% for gait and 47.8% and 68.0% for balance, respectively. Conclusions The CSF TT, with the Hellström iNPH scale as the outcome measure, has clear limitations in predicting postoperative results. The gait domain may be used to predict outcomes for gait, but the balance domain is too insensitive.


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