Quantifying microstructural brain anomalies in patients with Alzheimer's disease via diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Details

Supervisors

Macq, Benoît ; Dricot, Laurence

Faculty

Ecole polytechnique de Louvain

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur civil biomédical

Abstract

The rising elderly population in our society increases the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease, an aging-associated disease, making this neurodegenerative disorder a primary concern in our society. Recently, there has been a growing interest in shifting the diagnostic criteria of Alzheimer's disease from a clinical definition based on symptoms towards a biological definition based on neuropathological hallmarks of the disease. This approach promoted the search for new biomarkers that would refine the diagnosis, improve the clinical management of the patients, enhance clinical trials and accelerate the research for drug development. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is a rapidly evolving, non-radiating and non-invasive technology that measures the diffusion of water molecules that are restricted by biological barriers within the brain. This Master’s thesis aims at quantifying microstructural brain anomalies in patients with different clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease with microstructure imaging, a technique that consists in using mathematical models to infer microstructural features of brain tissues based on diffusion data. In this study, four models were used: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), Neurite Orientation Dispersion and Density Imaging (NODDI), DIstribution of 3D Anisotropic MicrOstructural eNvironments in Diffusion-compartment imaging (DIAMOND) and Microstructure Fingerprinting (MF). This study brings out the great potential for DIAMOND and MF, two recently developed models that have never been used to quantify brain anomalies in patients with Alzheimer's disease, to define new biomarkers of the pathology.