Hojjatollah Azadbakht1,2, Hamied A. Haroon1,2,
David M. Morris1,2, Karl V. Embleton, 2,3, Stephen F.
Carter4, Brandon Whitcher5, Julie Snowden6,
Geoff J.M. Parker, 27
1Imaging Science and Biomedical
Engineering, , School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences,, University of
Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; 2The University of
Manchester Biomedical Imaging Institute, University of Manchester,
Manchester, United Kingdom; 3School of Psychological Science,
University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; 4Wolfson
Molecular Imaging Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United
Kingdom; 5Clinical Imaging Centre, GlaxoSmithKline, London, United
Kingdom; 6Greater Manchester Neuroscience Centre, Salford Royal
Foundation Trust, Salford, United Kingdom; 7Imaging Science and
Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences,, University of
Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
The
quantitative characterisation of atrophy can provide useful biomarkers for
assessing the evolution of neurological conditions such as Alzheimers
disease (AD). It is likely that atrophy caused by such conditions also
affects white matter (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 than less
targeted methods which focus on global gray and/or white matter. In this work
we apply a novel method for quantifying the width of WM tracts to look for
evidence of tract atrophy in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD subjects.