White Matter Microstructure Changes Revealed by Diffusion Kurtosis and Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Mutant Huntingtin...

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Neurology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by white matter (WM) microstructural alterations.
• Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) techniques have been instrumental in identifying these changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate and compare the diagnostic validity of diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in assessing HD.
• To correlate imaging findings with clinical disease burden and progression.

Main Methods:

• 22 mutant huntingtin (mHTT) carriers and 14 controls underwent dMRI scans and clinical assessments.
• Participants were stratified by CAG-Age Product (CAP) score into high (hCAP) and medium/low (m&lCAP) groups.
• Spearman correlation and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses were employed.

Main Results:

• mHTT carriers showed significant WM changes on both DKI and DTI compared to controls.
• DKI (measured by MK) identified more affected regions than DTI (measured by FA).
• MK negatively correlated with disease burden; combined DKI and DTI provided high accuracy in distinguishing early HD and staging.

Conclusions:

• WM microstructural changes are present early in HD and worsen with disease progression.
• Integrating DKI and DTI parameters enhances the accuracy for differentiating early HD from controls.
• Combined DKI and DTI are valuable for identifying advanced stages of HD.