Session Information
Date: Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Session Title: Huntington's Disease
Session Time: 1:45pm-3:15pm
Location: Exhibit Hall C
Objective: To investigate the rate of longitudinal microstructural alterations in the occipital cortex in patients with different stages of Huntington’s disease (HD) compared to healthy controls, with the aim of assessing biomarker potential.
Background: Finding sensitive biomarkers characterizing disease state and progression in HD is an active area of research, essential to objectively assess potential effects of proposed therapeutics. Using diffusion MRI, we sought to quantify the rate of longitudinal microstructural alterations in the occipital cortex of patients in different stages of HD and to compare these to rates in matched healthy controls. The choice for this region was driven by mounting evidence of the involvement of the occipital cortex in HD neuropathology.
Methods: Twenty-two premanifest (preHD) (43.6 ± 8.7 years), 10 early manifest HD (50.2 ± 9.3 years) and 24 healthy control subjects (49.0 ± 8.2 years) were included. The preHD group was split into far (preHD-A) and near (preHD-B) to predicted disease onset groups. All completed baseline and two year follow-up diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans. An automated atlas-based DTI analysis approach was used to obtain the mean, axial and radial diffusivities of the occipital cortex. Cognitive tests were administered.
Results: The longitudinal rate of diffusivity change in the superior occipital gyrus (SOG), middle occipital gyrus (MOG), and inferior occipital gyrus (IOG) was significantly higher in early HD compared to both preHD and controls (all p’s ≤ 0.005). In preHD, only the change rate in the diffusivity of the MOG could significantly discriminate between preHD-B compared to preHD-A and the other groups (all p’s ≤ 0.04). An inverse correlation was found between the Stroop Word Reading task only and diffusivities in the SOG and MOG (all p’s ≤ 0.01).
Conclusions: These results suggest that automated atlas-based DTI measures obtained from the occipital cortex can serve as a sensitive longitudinal biomarker for disease state and progression in HD. This in turn could be used to assess the effects of proposed disease modifying therapies.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
O. Odish, R. Reijntjes, S. van_den Bogaard, R. Roos, A. Leemans. Progressive microstructural abnormalities of the occipital cortex in Huntington’s disease [abstract]. Mov Disord. 2017; 32 (suppl 2). https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/progressive-microstructural-abnormalities-of-the-occipital-cortex-in-huntingtons-disease/. Accessed June 5, 2025.« Back to 2017 International Congress
MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/progressive-microstructural-abnormalities-of-the-occipital-cortex-in-huntingtons-disease/