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Abstract #1997

Assessing the Effect of Age on Voxel-Based Relaxometry of Epileptic Patients

Rachel Sharkey1,2, Robert Karl Kosior, 1,3, Paolo Federico1,2, Richard Frayne, 12

1Seaman Family MR Research Centre, Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, AB, Canada; 2Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; 3Biomedical Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada


Our objective was to assess the effect of age on T2 for voxel-based relaxometry (VBR) analysis. Regressions of T2 versus age were run on data from healthy controls with a voxel-based analysis and with regions of interest. For controls and epileptic patients, VBR was performed once with age included as a nuisance variable, and once without. The correlation was variable across the brain, and significant (p < 0.05) in four regions, including the hippocampus (decreasing T2 with age). Without adjusting for age, discrepancies in VBR findings are found in younger and older patients.

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