title: An MRI-Based Atlas for Correlation of Imaging and Pathologic Findings in Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: Pathologic diagnosis is the gold standard in evaluating imaging measures developed as biomarkers for pathologically defined disorders. A brain MRI atlas representing autopsy-sampled tissue can be used to directly compare imaging and pathology findings. Our objective was to develop a brain MRI atlas representing the cortical regions that are routinely sampled at autopsy for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  
  
  
  Subjects (n = 22; ages at death = 70-95) with a range of pathologies and antemortem 3T MRI were included. Histology slides from 8 cortical regions sampled from the left hemisphere at autopsy guided the localization of the atlas regions of interest (ROIs) on each subject's antemortem 3D T1 -weighted MRI. These ROIs were then registered to a common template and combined to form one ROI representing the volume of tissue that was sampled by the pathologists. A subset of the subjects (n = 4; ages at death = 79-95) had amyloid PET imaging. Density of β-amyloid immunostain was quantified from the autopsy-sampled regions in the 4 subjects using a custom-designed ImageScope algorithm. Median uptake values were calculated in each ROI on the amyloid-PET images.
  
  
  
  We found an association between β-amyloid plaque density in 8 ROIs of the 4 subjects (total ROI n = 32) and median PiB SUVR (r(2) = .64; P < .0001).
  
  
  
  In an atlas developed for imaging and pathologic correlation studies, we demonstrated that antemortem amyloid burden measured in the atlas ROIs on amyloid PET is strongly correlated with β-amyloid density measured on histology. This atlas can be used in imaging and pathologic correlation studies.
authors.affiliation: Neurobiology of Disease Graduate Program, Mayo Graduate School, Rochester, MN.|Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Mekala R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Raman
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL.
authors.forename: Melissa E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Val J
authors.initials: VJ
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL.
authors.forename: Dennis W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Dickson
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Clifford R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Jack
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
authors.forename: Kejal
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kantarci
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D058227:Amyloidogenic Proteins; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D000814:Aniline Compounds; D015415:Biomarkers; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D020961:Lewy Body Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D058227:Amyloidogenic Proteins; D000814:Aniline Compounds; D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; MRI; atlas; pathology