Whole Brain Amide Proton Transfer Weighted Imaging in Children With Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Pediatric Sleep Medicine
• Cognitive Neuroscience

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children is associated with cognitive deficits.
• Amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) imaging is a sensitive MRI technique for detecting subtle brain tissue alterations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate alterations in brain APTw signals in children with OSA.
• To assess the relationship between APTw signal changes in specific brain regions and cognitive function in pediatric OSA.

Main Methods:

• Prospective study comparing 46 children with OSA and 20 controls using whole-brain APTw MRI.
• Statistical analysis included Fisher's LSD, Kruskal-Wallis, and Steel-Dwass tests for group comparisons.
• Pearson's or Spearman's correlation analyses examined the association between APTw signals and cognitive scores.

Main Results:

• Children with mild OSA showed lower white matter APTw signals in the inferior frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and thalamus compared to moderate-severe OSA.
• Moderate-severe OSA was associated with significantly lower gray matter APTw signals in the supramarginal and lingual gyri, corona radiata, and genu of corpus callosum compared to controls.
• APTw signals in frontal-parietal-temporal regions, hippocampus, and corona radiata correlated significantly with cognitive assessment scores.

Conclusions:

• APTw imaging can identify brain regions, including the frontal-parietal-temporal areas and hippocampus, affected in children with OSA.
• These APTw signal alterations may underlie the cognitive impairments observed in pediatric OSA.