Objective: The purpose of this study was to characterize magnetic properties of deep gray matters in Alzheimer’s diseases (AD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).

Background: QSM is a magnetic resonance imaging technique to quantify accumulation of magnetic substances, which is associated with development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Method: The study was approved by the local institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from all subjects. In each participant group, 10 AD, 14 DLB and 19 PDD patients were enrolled. A fully first-order flow-compensated 3D gradient echo sequence was run to obtain axial magnitude and phase images and produce QSM data. Sagittal structural 3D T1-weighted images were obtained with the magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition of gradient-echo sequence to generate deep gray matter masking templates. The average QSM values of the 15 different deep gray matters were calculated, and group differences were evaluated using a one-way analysis of covariance.

Results: The DLB group demonstrated the lowest QSM values, while AD group showed the highest values in putamen, thalamus and pallidus. The statistically significant differences were observed in right putamen (F = 3.950, p = 0.012) and in left pallidus (F =3.111, p = 0.033).

Conclusion: Among the three groups, AD demonstrated the most paramagnetic characteristics, which is indicative of increasing irons with the disease onset. The relative diamagnetism of DLB infers the presence of α-synuclein, which is known to be a diamagnetic substance.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/magnetic-property-characterization-of-deep-gray-matters-in-patients-with-alzheimers-diseases-dementia-with-lewy-bodies-and-parkinsons-disease-dementia-using-quantitative-susceptibility-mapping/