TY - GEN
T1 - Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging Reveals Optic Tract Damage That Correlates with Clinical Severity in Glaucoma
AU - Sun, Zhe
AU - Parra, Carlos
AU - Bang, Ji Won
AU - Fieremans, Els
AU - Wollstein, Gadi
AU - Schuman, Joel S.
AU - Chan, Kevin C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 IEEE.
PY - 2020/7
Y1 - 2020/7
N2 - Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease of the visual system and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. To date, its pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study evaluated the feasibility of advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging techniques for examining the microstructural environment of the visual pathway in glaucoma. While conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) showed lower fractional anisotropy and higher directional diffusivities in the optic tracts of glaucoma patients than healthy controls, diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and the extended white matter tract integrity (WMTI) model indicated lower radial kurtosis, higher axial and radial diffusivities in the extra-axonal space, lower axonal water fraction, and lower tortuosity in the same regions in glaucoma patients. These findings suggest glial involvements apart from compromised axonal integrity in glaucoma. In addition, DKI and WMTI but not DTI parameters significantly correlated with clinical ophthalmic measures via optical coherence tomography and visual field perimetry testing. Taken together, DKI and WMTI provided sensitive and comprehensive imaging biomarkers for quantifying glaucomatous damage in the white matter tract across clinical severity complementary to DTI.
AB - Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease of the visual system and is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. To date, its pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. This study evaluated the feasibility of advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging techniques for examining the microstructural environment of the visual pathway in glaucoma. While conventional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) showed lower fractional anisotropy and higher directional diffusivities in the optic tracts of glaucoma patients than healthy controls, diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and the extended white matter tract integrity (WMTI) model indicated lower radial kurtosis, higher axial and radial diffusivities in the extra-axonal space, lower axonal water fraction, and lower tortuosity in the same regions in glaucoma patients. These findings suggest glial involvements apart from compromised axonal integrity in glaucoma. In addition, DKI and WMTI but not DTI parameters significantly correlated with clinical ophthalmic measures via optical coherence tomography and visual field perimetry testing. Taken together, DKI and WMTI provided sensitive and comprehensive imaging biomarkers for quantifying glaucomatous damage in the white matter tract across clinical severity complementary to DTI.
KW - Diffusion Tensor Imaging
KW - Glaucoma/diagnostic imaging
KW - Humans
KW - Neurodegenerative Diseases
KW - Optic Tract
KW - White Matter/diagnostic imaging
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091048874&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85091048874&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176192
DO - 10.1109/EMBC44109.2020.9176192
M3 - Conference contribution
C2 - 33018335
AN - SCOPUS:85091048874
VL - 2020
T3 - Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference
SP - 1746
EP - 1749
BT - 42nd Annual International Conferences of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 42nd Annual International Conferences of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC 2020
Y2 - 20 July 2020 through 24 July 2020
ER -