Sulcal Morphometry Predicts Mild Cognitive Impairment Conversion to Alzheimer's Disease

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Radiology

Background:

• Differentiating mild cognitive impairment converters (MCIc) from non-converters (MCInc) is crucial for Alzheimer's disease (AD) prognosis.
• Accurate identification of individuals at risk for AD progression is a significant clinical challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate sulcal morphometry's ability to predict MCI progression to AD.
• To specifically focus on accurate sulcal identification for improved prognostic accuracy.

Main Methods:

• Utilized brain MRI (1.5T, T1-weighted) on 25 AD patients, 37 MCI patients, and 25 healthy controls (HC).
• Assessed MCI patients neurophysiologically at baseline and re-evaluated after 2.3 years (12 MCInc, 25 MCIc).
• Analyzed sulcal morphometry (surface, depth, length, width) of 106 sulci using BrainVISA, ensuring consistency via manual correction.

Main Results:

• Temporo-occipital sulcal width significantly differentiated between HC, MCI, and AD groups.
• MCIc patients showed altered width in bilateral temporo-occipital and left frontal sulci compared to MCInc.
• Increased frontal sulcal width correlated with poorer short-term verbal memory and phonemic fluency.

Conclusions:

• Sulcal morphometry is a powerful tool for distinguishing between healthy controls, MCI, and AD.
• This technique demonstrates significant prognostic potential for predicting MCI conversion to Alzheimer's disease.