Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea University, Sejong, Republic of Korea.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Korea University Graduate School, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Neurol Sci. 2019 Nov;40(11):2333-2342. doi: 10.1007/s10072-019-03981-6. Epub 2019 Jun 26.
Some elders with subjective cognitive deficits (SCD) develop prodromal phase of dementia over time; however, little is known about how they differ from those with normal cognition (NC). Thus, we aim to distinguish the differences in the brain network of elders with SCD and NC.
Multiple diffusion-weighted images (DWI) and T1-weighted images were obtained from 18 subjects with NC and 26 subjects with SCD. Using network-based statistics (NBS) analysis, we extracted abnormal brain subnetworks and localized abnormal brain connectivity. We also ran correlation analysis to compare the affected regions and the results of the neurocognitive assessments.
Altered subnetworks were found in the superior parietal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, posterior cingulum, putamen, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and paracentral lobule. They were also associated with scores on the word list recall, word list recognition, and Boston naming test.
Elders with SCD had distinctive brain network alterations when compared with those of elders with NC. The results are also in line with the previously identified characteristics of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a milder form. We speculate that it may be possible to predict AD progression early in the SCD stage using NBS analysis.
一些有主观认知缺陷（SCD）的老年人随着时间的推移会发展为痴呆的前驱期；然而，人们对他们与认知正常（NC）的老年人有何不同知之甚少。因此，我们旨在区分 SCD 和 NC 老年人的大脑网络差异。
从 18 名认知正常的受试者和 26 名有 SCD 的受试者中获得多个弥散加权图像（DWI）和 T1 加权图像。使用基于网络的统计学（NBS）分析，我们提取了异常脑子网并定位了异常脑连接。我们还进行了相关性分析，以比较受影响的区域和神经认知评估的结果。
在顶叶上回、角回、楔前叶、后扣带回、壳核、中央前回、中央后回和旁中央叶发现了改变的子网。它们还与单词列表回忆、单词列表识别和波士顿命名测试的分数相关。
与认知正常的老年人相比，有 SCD 的老年人的大脑网络存在明显的改变。这些结果也与轻度认知障碍（MCI）和阿尔茨海默病（AD）的先前确定的特征一致，只是程度较轻。我们推测，使用 NBS 分析可能可以在 SCD 阶段早期预测 AD 的进展。
