Progressive alterations in structural topological properties in T2DM with and without mild cognitive impairment

This study aims to investigate the topological organization in T2DM with and without impairment, and characterize its relationships with clinical measurements. Forty T2DM patients were divided into two sub-groups(impaired and normal cognition), together with ten healthy controls, were imaged at a 3T scanner. We found that the T2DM patients with cognitive impairment had decreased global efficiency, local efficiency, but increased shortest path length than those with normal cognition and healthy controls. Decreased nodal properties were also detected. Decreased clustering coefficients correlated with the neuropsychological assessment and disease duration. The structural topological properties research shows potential feasibility in characterizing intrinsic alterations of diabetic encephalopathy.