Iron In Alzheimers
ironjustice
Quantitative MR Phase-corrected Imaging to
Investigate Increased Brain Iron Deposition
of Patients with Alzheimer Disease1
Wen-zhen Zhu, MD, Wei-de Zhong, MD, Wei Wang, MD,
Chuan-jia Zhan, MSc, Cheng-yuan Wang, MD,
Jian-pin Qi, MD, Jian-zhi Wang, MD and Ting Lei, MD
+ Author Affiliations
1From the Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital,
Tongji Medical College,
Huazhong University of Science & Technology,
Wuhan, China (W.Z.Z., C.J.Z., C.Y.W., J.P.Q.);
Department of Urology,
Guangzhou First Municipal People's Hospital,
Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510180,
China (W.D.Z.); and Departments of Neurology (W.W.),
Pathophysiology (J.Z.W.), and Neurosurgery (T.L.),
Tongji Medical College,
Huazhong University of Science & Technology, Wuhan, China.
Address correspondence to
W.D.Z. (e-mail: wdezh...@21cn.com).
Author contributions:
Guarantors of integrity of entire study, W.Z.Z., W.D.Z.;
study concepts/study design or data acquisition or data
analysis/interpretation, all authors; manuscript drafting
or manuscript revision for important intellectual content,
all authors; approval of final version of submitted manuscript,
all authors; literature research, W.Z.Z., W.D.Z., W.W., J.Z.W.;
clinical studies, W.Z.Z., W.D.Z., W.W., C.J.Z., J.P.Q., T.L.;
statistical analysis, W.Z.Z., W.D.Z., C.J.Z., J.Z.W.;
and manuscript editing, W.Z.Z., W.D.Z., W.W., C.Y.W., J.P.Q.,
J.Z.W., T.L.
Abstract
Purpose:
Brain iron deposition has been proposed to play an
important role in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative
diseases.
The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation
of brain iron accumulation with the severity of cognitive
impairment in patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).
Materials and Methods:
This study was approved by the institutional review board
of Tongji Hospital (Wuhan, China) and written informed consent
was obtained from all participants.
Fifteen patients with AD, 15 age-and sex-matched healthy
controls, and 30 healthy volunteers underwent high-resolution
magnetic resonance (MR) phase-corrected imaging.
The phase shift and iron concentrations of the bilateral
hippocampus (HP), parietal cortex (PC), frontal white matter,
putamen (PU), caudate nucleus (CN), thalamus, red nucleus,
substantia nigra, and dentate nucleus (DN) of the cerebellum
were examined for correlation with severity of dementia by
using a two-tailed Student-Newman-Keuls t test (analysis of
variance) and linear correlation test.
Results:
Regional phase shifts on phase-corrected images were negatively
correlated with regional brain iron concentration in healthy
adults (r = -0.926, P = .003).
Iron concentrations in the bilateral HP, PC, PU, CN, and DN
subregions of patients with AD were significantly higher than
the controls (P < .05),
Moreover, these brain iron concentrations, especially those in
the PC at the early stages of AD, were positively correlated with
the severity of patients' cognitive impairment (P < .05).
Conclusion:
Iron concentration in the PC was positively correlated with the
severity of AD patients' cognitive impairment, indicating that it
may be used as a biomarker to evaluate the progression of AD.
(c) RSNA, 2009
Footnotes
Received January 8, 2009; revision requested March 12; revision
received April 29; accepted May 12; final version accepted May 26.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30570531)
and 863 Project of the National Science and Technology Committee of
China (No. 2006AA02Z4A1).
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