title: Multimodal Quantitative MR Imaging of the Thalamus in Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To systematically investigate structural and functional alterations of the thalamus and its subregions through a multimodal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technique and examine its clinical relevance in multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
  
  
  METHODS
  The institutional review board approved this study, and written informed consent was obtained from each participant. Thirty-seven patients with MS, 39 patients with NMO, and 40 healthy control subjects were recruited. Six MR imaging measurements were obtained for each participant and compared between groups in the thalamus and its seven subregions, including gray matter (GM) volume, fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation, cross-correlation coefficient of spontaneous low frequency, and weighted functional connectivity strength. Partial correlation was used to estimate the MR imaging-clinical relationships.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both MS and NMO exhibited widespread GM atrophy (GM volume in MS, 0.244; NMO, 0.297; and control subjects, 0.329; P < .001) and diffusion abnormalities (fractional anisotropy in MS, 0.293; NMO, 0.323; and control subjects, 0.355; P < .001) in the whole thalamus and several subregions, while MS showed more severe changes than NMO. Decreased cross-correlation coefficient of spontaneous low-frequency and weighted functional connectivity strength was observed in several thalamus subregions in MS (P < .05), but no significant functional abnormalities were identified in NMO. GM volume, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity, not functional changes of the thalamus and thalamic subregions, correlated with the patients' clinical variables and exhibited high discriminative power in distinguishing the three groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Similar patterns of thalamic structural alteration were identified in MS and NMO, but MS showed more severe pathologic changes. The thalamus is a key node for functional disconnection in MS but not in NMO.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Yaou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Yunyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Zhuoqiong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Huiqing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Fu-Dong
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Frederik
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barkhof
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vrenken
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Mike P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Wattjes
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Jinhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of Radiology (Y.L., Y.D., J.H., Z.R., K.L.) and Neurology (J.Y., H.D.), Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam (Y.L., F.B., H.V., M.P.W.), and Department of Physics and Medical Technology (H.V.), VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurologic Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, P. R. China (Y.L., F.D.S.); Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310015, P. R. China (J.W.); and Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, P. R. China (J.W.).
authors.forename: Kuncheng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001284:Atrophy; D004058:Diffusion; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064847:Multimodal Imaging; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica / Q000473:pathology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000473:pathology*