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Abstract #4121

Fibre-specific white matter changes in Alzheimer's disease: novel insights from Fixel-Based Analysis

Remika Mito1,2, David Raffelt1, Thijs Dhollander1, David N Vaughan1,2,3, Olivier Salvado4, Amy Brodtmann1,2,5, Christopher Rowe6,7, Victor L Villemagne2,6,7, and Alan Connelly1,2

1Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3Department of Neurology, Austin Health, Victoria, Australia, 4Health & Biosecurity, CSIRO, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 5Eastern Clinical Research Unit, Box Hill Hospital, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, 6Department of Medicine, Austin Health, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 7Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterised by extensive white matter disruption, however voxel-based studies have been unable to provide fibre-specific insight into how this alters brain connectivity. Here, we applied fixel-based analysis (FBA) to diffusion MRI data to investigate changes in AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. AD patients exhibited significant reductions in both fibre density and cross-section across multiple fibre tracts, while significant decreases in MCI were only evident in the posterior cingulum and uncinate, upon tract-of-interest analysis. This work demonstrates the value of FBA in identifying both macroscopic and microscopic changes to specific fibre pathways in the investigation of AD.

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