Quantifying changes on susceptibility weighted images in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using MRI texture analysis

• Published in: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal degeneration 2019-07, Vol.20 (5-6), p.396-403
• Main Authors: Johns, Scott L.M., Ishaque, Abdullah, Khan, Muhammad, Yang, Yee-Hong, Wilman, Alan H., Kalra, Sanjay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - metabolism; biomarker; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - metabolism; Cohort Studies; Disease Progression; Female; Humans; imaging; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Middle Aged; Multimodal Imaging - methods; Neuropathology; Prospective Studies
• ISSN: 2167-8421; 2167-9223
• DOI: 10.1080/21678421.2019.1599024

Objective: Susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) has been used to identify neurodegeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) through qualitative gross visual comparison of signal intensity. The aim of this study was to quantitatively identify cerebral degeneration in ALS on SWI using texture analysis. Methods: SW images were acquired from 17 ALS patients (58.4 ± 10.3 years, 13M/4F, ALSFRS-R 41.2 ± 4.1) and 18 healthy controls (56.3 ± 17.6 years, 9M/9F) at 4.7 tesla. Textures were computed within the precentral gyrus and basal ganglia and compared between patients and controls using ANCOVA with age and gender as covariates. Texture features were correlated with clinical measures in patients. Texture features found to be significantly different between patients and controls in the precentral gyrus were then used in a whole-brain 3D texture analysis. Results: The texture feature autocorrelation was significantly higher in ALS patients compared to healthy controls in the precentral gyrus and basal ganglia (p