Abstract #3020

“Crafting” the olfactory atlas with brain regions and axonal bundles: application to COVID-19 subjects with anosmia

Marta Gaviraghi¹, Eleonora Lupi¹, Elena Grosso¹, Anita Monteverdi², Marco Battiston³, Francesco Grussu^3,4, Baris Kanber^3,5, Ferran Prados Carrasco^3,5,6, Rebecca S. Samson³, Janine Makaronidis^7,8, Marios C Yiannakas³, Egido D'Angelo^1,2, Fulvia Palesi^1,2, and Claudia A.M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott^1,2,3

¹Department of Brain & Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, ²Digital Neuroscience Centre, IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy, ³NMR Research Unit, Queen Square MS Centre, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴Radiomics Group, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology, Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, Barcelona, Spain, ⁵Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC), University College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁶E-Health Center, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, ⁷Centre for Obesity Research, Department of Medicine, University College London, London, Italy, ⁸UCLH Biomedical Research Centre, National Institute of Health Research, London, United Kingdom

Synopsis

Keywords: Segmentation, COVID-19, olfactory atlas, tractography

Motivation: Several pathologies, including COVID-19, affect the sense of smell, causing anosmia.

Goal(s): The goal is to create an atlas that includes grey matter regions and white matter tracts involved in the olfactory circuit.

Approach: Grey matter regions involved in the olfactory circuit were selected and an atlas of tracts connecting pairs of regions was extracted using tractography. The atlas was used on subjects with anosmia caused by COVID-19 to investigate changes in grey matter density (voxel-based analysis) and quantitative microstructural maps (mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy).

Results: Structural alterations were found in subjects with anosmia, mainly in the cerebellum.

Impact: The created olfactory circuit atlas, which includes grey matter regions and axonal bundles, can be crucial for studying pathologies involving alterations in the olfactory circuit. The atlas was useful to detect structural alterations in subjects with anosmia caused by COVID-19.

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