MRI Texture Analysis Reveals Deep Gray Nuclei Damage in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Author(s)

de Albuquerque, Milena ^{[1, 2]} ; Anjos, Lara G. V. ^{[1, 2]} ; Tavares de Andrade, Helen Maia ^{[1, 2]} ; de Oliveira, Marcia S. ^[3] ; Castellano, Gabriela ^[3] ; Ribeiro de Rezende, Thiago Junqueira ^{[3, 1, 2]} ; Nucci, Anamarli ^{[1, 2]} ; Franca Junior, Marcondes Cavalcante ^{[1, 2, 4]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Sch Med Sci, Dept Neurol, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Sch Med Sci, Dept Neuroimaging Lab, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Inst Phys Gleb Wataghin, Neurophys Grp, Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[4] Univ Campinas UNICAMP, Dept Neurol, Rua Tessalia Vieira de Camargo, 126 Cidade Univ Ze, BR-13083887 Campinas, SP - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: JOURNAL OF NEUROIMAGING; v. 26, n. 2, p. 201-206, MAR-APR 2016.
• Web of Science Citations: 14

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEAmyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by extensive corticospinal damage, but extrapyramidal involvement is suggested in pathological studies. Texture analysis (TA) is an image processing technique that evaluates the distribution of gray levels between pixels in a given region of interest (ROI). It provides quantitative data and has been employed in several neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we used TA to investigate possible deep gray nuclei (DGN) abnormalities in a cohort of ALS patients. METHODSThirty-two ALS patients and 32 healthy controls underwent MRI in a 3T scanner. The T1 volumetric sequence was used for DGN segmentation and extraction of 11 texture parameters using the MaZda software. Statistical analyses were performed using the Mann-Whitney non-parametric test, with a significance level set at = 0.025 (FDR-corrected) for TA. RESULTSPatients had significantly higher values for the parameter correlation (CO) in both thalami and in the right caudate nucleus compared to healthy controls. Also, the parameter Inverse Difference Moment or Homogeneity (IDM) presented significantly smaller values in the ALS group in both thalami. CONCLUSIONSTA of T1 weighted images revealed DGN alterations in patients with ALS, namely in the thalami and caudate nuclei. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 12/24363-2 - Application of the Granger causality model for the study of effective connectivity from functional magnetic resonance images acquired during verbal, visual and operating memory experiments in healthy subjects and patients with refractory epilepsy
• Grantee: Márcia Silva de Oliveira
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 13/07559-3 - BRAINN - The Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology
• Grantee: Fernando Cendes
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers - RIDC
• FAPESP's process: 11/21521-3 - Study of biomarkers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Grantee: Milena de Albuquerque
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)