Abstract Details

Title Quantifying Cerebral Degeneration in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Using Texture Analysis of Multimodal MRI

Topic Neuromuscular and Clinical Neurophysiology (EMG)

Presentation(s) P1 - Poster Session 1 (12:00 PM-1:00 PM)

Poster/Presentation
Number 1-005

Objective We aimed to assess cerebral degeneration in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in different regions of interest (ROI's) on T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using ROI-based texture analysis. We further tested whether texture changes correlate to clinical features.

Background Routine structural MRI plays a limited role in the diagnosis of ALS. Texture analysis is an advanced image analysis method that quantifies voxel intensity interrelationships to detect information that is imperceptible to the human eye. Little is known about the comparative performance of different MRI modalities in detecting ALS texture changes.

Design/Methods

Multimodal MRI images were acquired from 49 ALS patients (59.1 ±10.1 years) and 51 healthy controls (58.2 ±10.4 years) at 3 Tesla. Texture features were computed in the precentral gyrus, corticospinal tract, and posterior internal capsule, and compared between groups using ANCOVA. Texture features were then tested for their clssification abilities and correlation with ALS clinical measures.

Results

Texture feature autocorrelation did not reveal significant differences between patients and healthy controls. Other texture features were explored and inverse difference moment was significantly different between patients and healthy controls in bilateral precentral gyri (p<0.005), left corticospinal tract (p<0.05), and right corticospinal tract (p<0.005) on T1 and FLAIR. Texture changes, as revealed by inverse difference moment on T1 and FLAIR, in bilateral precentral gyri correlated with finger tapping scores (a measure of upper motor neuron function). A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis using inverse difference moment in left precentral gyrus on T1 yielded an area under the curve of 0.723 (95% confidence interval=0.625 to 0.808, sensitivity 69.39% and specificity 80.39%).

Conclusions

Texture analysis on T1-weighted and FLAIR MRI can potentially identify changes consistent with degeneration in the precentral gyri and corticospinal tracts in patients with ALS.

Authors/Disclosures
Ekhlas Assaedi, MD (Cleveland Clinic) PRESENTER	Dr. Assaedi has nothing to disclose.
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Annie Dionne, MD (CHU De Quebec Hopital Enfant-Jesus)	Dr. Dionne has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Sanofi. Dr. Dionne has received research support from Sanofi.
Angela L. Genge, MD (Mcgill University)	Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as a Consultant for AL-S Pharma. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as a Consultant for Amylyx. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $100,000-$499,999 for serving as a Consultant for Quralis. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for MTPA. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving as a Consultant for WAVE. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as a Consultant for eikonizo. Dr. Genge has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for rapa.
Lawrence Korngut, MD	Dr. Korngut has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Biogen. Dr. Korngut has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Mitsubishi Tanabe. Dr. Korngut has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Roche.
Lorne H. Zinman, MD	Dr. Zinman has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for Biogen, MTP, AB Science, Cytokinetics, Amylyx. Dr. Zinman has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving on a Scientific Advisory or Data Safety Monitoring board for Amylyx.
Sanjay Kalra, MD (University of Alberta)	The institution of Dr. Kalra has received research support from Brain Canada Foundation. The institution of Dr. Kalra has received research support from Biogen.