Abnormal brain structure as a potential biomarker for venous erectile dysfunction: evidence from multimodal MRI and...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Urology
• Medical Artificial Intelligence

Background:

• Venous erectile dysfunction (VED) is a common condition affecting male sexual health.
• Understanding the underlying cerebral structural changes in VED is crucial for diagnosis and treatment.
• Previous research has explored various factors, but the specific brain alterations and their correlation with clinical presentation require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate cerebral structural changes in patients with VED.
• To explore the relationship between these brain alterations, clinical symptoms, and duration of the disorder.
• To differentiate VED patients from healthy controls using machine learning classification.

Main Methods:

• Inclusion of 45 VED patients and 50 healthy controls.
• Utilizing voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) for brain imaging analysis.
• Employing correlation analyses and machine learning classification to assess clinical variables and diagnostic accuracy.

Main Results:

• VED patients exhibited decreased cortical volumes in the left postcentral and precentral gyri, with increased volume in the right middle temporal gyrus.
• Significant alterations in white matter microstructure, indicated by increased axial, radial, and mean diffusivity, were observed in widespread brain regions.
• Machine learning successfully discriminated VED patients from controls with high accuracy (96.7%), sensitivity (93.3%), and specificity (99.0%).

Conclusions:

• Cerebral structural changes, including cortical volume and white matter microstructural alterations, are present in VED patients.
• These brain changes correlate significantly with clinical symptoms and the duration of the dysfunction.
• Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics show promise as reliable features for machine learning-based differentiation of VED patients from healthy individuals, highlighting potential clinical applications.