The Multimodal MRI Features of Deteriorative MCI Patients - A 2-Year Follow-up Study

Abstract

Background: To explore the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of the 2-year follow-up patients with deteriorative mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: A number of 105 MCI-afflicted patients underwent multimodal MRI sequences in 2019 and 2021, respectively. The brain image was segmented into 116 regions, and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value, fractional anisotropy (FA) value, and cerebral blood flow (CBF) value of each brain region were extracted by the deep learning algorithm. They were divided into the deteriorative MCI group and the non-deteriorative MCI group according to the cognitive function 2 years later. Results: With the FA values analyzed, we found the characteristics in nine brain regions as follows: In both 2019 and 2021, the FA value was significantly lower in the deterioration group (DG) than in the non-deterioration group (NDG) (P < 0.001). In the DG, the FA value was significantly lower in 2021 than in 2019 (P < 0.001), while in the NDG, no significant difference was found in the FA value between 2019 and 2021 (P > 0.05). In terms of the ADC value, we found the characteristics in middle frontal gyrus-orbital part region as follows: In both 2019 and 2021, the ADC value was significantly higher in the DG than in the NDG (P < 0.001). In the DG, the ADC value was significantly higher in 2021 than in 2019 (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The decrease of the FA value in nine brain regions and the increase of the ADC value in one brain region could be the warning characteristics of the deterioration of MCI.