Voxel-Based and Surface-Based Morphometry Analysis in Patients with Pathologically Confirmed Argyrophilic Grain Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Due to clinicoradiological similarities, including amnestic cognitive impairment and limbic atrophy, differentiation of argyrophilic grain disease (AGD) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is often challenging. Minimally invasive biomarkers, especially magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are valuable in routine clinical practice. Although it is necessary to explore radiological clues, morphometry analyses using new automated analytical methods, including whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM), have not been sufficiently investigated in patients with pathologically confirmed AGD and AD. Objective: This study aimed to determine the volumetric differences in VBM and SBM analyses between patients with pathologically confirmed AGD and AD. Methods: Eight patients with pathologically confirmed AGD with a lower Braak neurofibrillary tangle stage (<III), 11 patients with pathologically confirmed AD without comorbid AGD, and 10 healthy controls (HC) were investigated. Gray matter volumetric changes in VBM and cortical thickness changes in SBM were compared between the two patient groups (i.e., AGD and AD) and the HC group. Results: In contrast to widespread gray matter volume or cortical thickness loss in the bilateral limbic, temporoparietal, and frontal lobes of the AD group, these were limited, especially in the limbic lobes, in the AGD group, compared with that of the HC group. Although bilateral posterior dominant gray matter volume loss was identified in the AD group compared with the AGD group on VBM, there was no significant cluster between these patient groups on SBM. Conclusion: VBM and SBM analyses both showed a different distribution of atrophic changes between AGD and AD.