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Abstract #2351

Longitudinal Tract Atrophy in Normal Aging & Alzheimer's Disease Measured using Probabilistic Tractography

Hojjatollah Azadbakht1, David M. Morris1, Hamied A. Haroon1, Brandon Whitcher2, Julie Snowden3, Geoff J. Parker1

1Imaging Science & Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer & Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; 2Clinical Imaging Centre, GlaxoSmithKline, London, United Kingdom; 3Greater Manchester Neuroscience Centre, Salford Royal Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom


While current literature has mainly focused on measuring the atrophy of whole brain, global grey and/or white matter (WM), specific lobes or grey matter structures (e.g. the hippocampus), it is likely that atrophy caused by conditions such as Alzheimers also affects WM tracts via degenerative processes. If specific tract systems are more prone to atrophy than others, then tractography-guided atrophy measurements may be more sensitive biomarkers of degeneration than less targeted methods. For this purpose, in this work we apply a novel method for quantifying the progression atrophy in Normal-Aged and AD subjects undergoing serial diffusion MRI scans 1-year apart.