Romano Andrea, Cornia Riccardo, Moraschi Marta, Bozzao Alessandro, Chiacchiararelli Laura, Coppola Valeria, Iani Cristina, Stella Giacomo, Albertini Giorgio, Pierallini Alberto
San Raffaele Foundation, Rehabilitation Facility, Merit Project RBNE08E8CZ.
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Departments of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neurosciences.
J Neuroimaging. 2016 Jan-Feb;26(1):95-102. doi: 10.1111/jon.12259. Epub 2015 May 21.
The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristic pattern of age-related cortical thinning in patients with Down Syndrome (DS), as assessed by MRI and automatic cortical thickness measurements.
Ninety-one non-demented subjects with DS (range 11-53 years) were examined using a 1.5 T scanner. MRI-based quantification of cortical thickness was performed using FreeSurfer software package., The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between age and mean cortical thickness was evaluated for all subjects participating in the study.
A significant negative correlation between cortical thickness and age was found bilaterally in the frontal, temporal, parietal and cingulate gyrus. Specific investigation of cerebral lobes showed a more evident involvement of the frontal one, compared to others. Moreover, the age related reduction of cortical thickness appeared to be more significant and rapid in patients between 20 and 30 years of age.
Our findings showed that Down Syndrome subjects are affected by a diffuse cortical thinning. The involvement of cortical structures can be observed at an earlier age than previous studies have reported.
本研究旨在通过MRI及自动皮质厚度测量，调查唐氏综合征（DS）患者与年龄相关的皮质变薄特征模式。
使用1.5T扫描仪对91名非痴呆的DS患者（年龄范围11 - 53岁）进行检查。采用FreeSurfer软件包基于MRI对皮质厚度进行量化。对参与研究的所有受试者评估年龄与平均皮质厚度之间的Pearson积矩相关系数。
在额叶、颞叶、顶叶和扣带回双侧均发现皮质厚度与年龄呈显著负相关。对脑叶的具体研究表明，与其他脑叶相比，额叶受累更明显。此外，20至30岁患者的皮质厚度随年龄的减少似乎更显著且迅速。
我们的研究结果表明，唐氏综合征患者存在弥漫性皮质变薄。皮质结构受累的年龄比以往研究报告的更早。
