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Abstract #0135

Investigating microstructural heterogeneity of white matter hyperintensities in Alzheimer’s disease using single-shell 3-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution

Remika Mito1,2, Thijs Dhollander1, David Raffelt1, Ying Xia3, Olivier Salvado3, Amy Brodtmann1,2, Christopher Rowe4,5, Victor Villemagne4,5, and Alan Connelly1,2

1Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia, 2Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, 3The Australian eHealth Research Centre, CSIRO Health and Biosecurity, Brisbane, Australia, 4Department of Medicine, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, 5Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) observed on FLAIR MRI are highly prevalent in Alzheimer’s disease. Although often associated with cognitive decline, such associations are highly variable, likely due to the underlying pathological heterogeneity within these lesions. Here, we explore this potential heterogeneity in vivo in an Alzheimer’s disease cohort, by investigating relative tissue fractions obtained using single-shell 3-tissue constrained spherical deconvolution (SS3T-CSD). We show distinguishable tissue profiles of lesions based on classification as periventricular or deep, and additionally show heterogeneity within lesions, thus highlighting the pitfalls of binary classification of WMH, and the value of investigating their underlying diffusional properties.

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