title: Could iron accumulation be an etiology of the white matter change in Alzheimer's disease: using phase imaging to detect white matter iron deposition based on diffusion tensor imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate if and where abnormal iron accumulation in white matter fibers occurs in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by phase imaging and to relate these findings to white matter tract degeneration assessed by diffusion tensor imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-five patients with AD and 20 normal controls underwent phase imaging and diffusion tensor imaging with a 3.0-tesla system. White matter fibers including fornix (Fx), genu of corpus callosum (GCC), splenium of corpus callosum (SCC), bilateral posterior cingulum (PC), superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and frontal occipital fasciculus (IOF) were measured on a fractional anisotropy (FA) map, mean diffusivity (MD) map and phase map.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significantly decreased phase values and FA values in the Fx and PC regions were found in the AD group. The phase value in Fx had a moderately positive correlation with the FA value (r = 0.666, p = 0.000) in the AD group. Meanwhile, phase values in PC showed positive correlation with FA values (right side: r = 0.436, p = 0.033; left side: r = 0.458, p = 0.022, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Iron accumulation of Fx and PC regions was significantly positively correlated with FA value, indicating that abnormal iron deposition may be one of the causes of white matter disruption in AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ruijin Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hua-Wei
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.forename: Bei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Huan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ke-Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D019190:Iron Overload / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D056784:Leukoencephalopathies / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D007501:Iron