The Correlation Analysis Between DTI Network Parameters and AVLT Scale Scores of Alzheimer's Disease

Neuroimaging and neuropsychology are employed to investigate the pathological features and clinical characteristics of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in order to find a method for the precise treatment. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a non-intrusive examination of cranial nerve diseases which can help us observe the microstructure of neuron fibers. Building the brain network provides a chance to reveal the significance of specific brain region and the relevance among different regions. In this study, we propose a completely novel method to analyze AD. First whole brain network is built on the basis of a novel segmentation atlas, and global graph theoretical parameters are calculated to evaluate the characteristic of whole brain. Then graph theoretical parameters of specific brain regions are extracted based on whole brain network. Finally neuropsychology scale are employed and we analyze the correlation between graph theoretical parameters of specific regions and scale scores. Our results illustrate the connection between neuroimaging data and neuropsychological scores, and provide a reasonable explanation for the potential connection between clinical performance and physiological brain lesions of AD patients.