White Matter Bundles Linked To Cognitive Impairment In Alzheimer'S Patients And Intermediate Stages

This paper analyzes the relationship between DTI measures obtained in white matter bundles and the degree of cognitive impairment in subjects with different levels of impairment, from healthy subjects to subjects with Alzheimer's disease, including intermediate stages such as subjective cognitive impairment and mild cognitive impairment. Subjects' fibers were segmented using deep and superficial white matter bundle atlases to extract diffusion measures for each bundle. These measures were correlated with subjects' cognitive scores obtained from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The bundles presenting significant correlations were then used to determine the significant differences in diffusion-based measures across the progression stages of cognitive impairment. The results showed a total of 16 long bundles and 8 short bundles presenting correlation of DTI measures with cognitive impairment, and significant differences between groups.