Abstract #1964

Evaluation of white matter neuroinflammation in children with autism spectrum disorder using free-water imaging

Wataru Uchida^1,2, Koji Kamagata¹, Eiji Kirino^3,4, Christina Andica¹, Yuya Saito^1,2, Akifumi Hagiwara¹, Toshiaki Akashi¹, Akihiko Wada¹, Syo Murata¹, Masaaki Hori⁵, and Shigeki Aoki¹

¹Radiology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ²Radiological Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University Graduate School of Human Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan, ³Psychiatry, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ⁴Radiology, Juntendo University Shizuoka Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan, ⁵Radiology, Toho University Omori Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

We investigated the differences in white matter pathology between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing children using single-tensor diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and bi-tensor free-water (FW) imaging. Tract-based spatial statistics analysis demonstrated significantly increased FW volume fraction in children with ASD compared with that in typically developing children. Increased FW volume fraction may reflect neuroinflammation in children with ASD as a result of inflammatory cytokine accumulation in the white matter. Furthermore, we showed that FW imaging is more sensitive and specific than single-tensor DTI in the evaluation of white matter in children with ASD.

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