Toward clinically feasible diffusion MRI microstructure imaging of the white matter

• Project/Area Number: 18K07729
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 52040:Radiological sciences-related
• Research Institution: Juntendo University
• Principal Investigator: Kouhei Kamiiya 順天堂大学, 医学部, 非常勤助手 (30749825)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2020)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
• Keywords: 拡散MRI / パーキンソン病 / 生体物理モデル / 組織微細構造イメージング / 微細構造イメージング / 加齢 / 組織微細構造 / 白質 / MRI / 拡散

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aimed at exploring the clinical utility of multi-dimensional diffusion MRI. While many "advanced" methods for microstructural imaging are being proposed, the strict time constraint in the clinical setting is a major hindrance for translation into medical practice. We set up a 15 min protocol with double diffusion encoding suitable for analyses with the covariance tensor framework and applied this protocol to investigate the white matter degeneration in the brains of patients with Parkinson's disease. The results showed reductions of kurtosis in Parkinson's disease are likely driven by the reduction in microscopic anisotropy. Furthermore, microscopic anisotropy correlated with the severity of motor impairment. The present results support the use of multidimensional diffusion encoding in clinical studies and are encouraging for its future clinical implementation.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

拡散MRIは生体組織の微細構造を非侵襲的に捉えられる点に強みがあるが、その特性上組織微細構造との関係は間接的で、１対１の対応にはなっていない。この点を克服していくには撮影するデータの質と量を増していくことが必要であり、また同時に、増やした情報が実用上の有用性を持つことを確認しながら研究を進めることが必要である。本研究では、拡散尖度というMRI指標から更に一歩進んでこれを成分に分解することで、パーキンソン病の臨床スコアとよく相関する指標を取り出せることを示した。本研究の成果は、拡散MRIのデータ収集空間を拡張していくことの臨床的意義と、それが実用的な撮影時間で可能であることを示唆している。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Time-dependent Diffusion in Transient Splenial Lesion: Comparison between Oscillating-gradient Spin-echo Measurements and Monte-Carlo Simulation (2021)
  • Author(s): Maekawa Tomoko、Kamiya Kouhei、Murata Katsutoshi、Feiweier Thorsten、Hori Masaaki、Aoki Shigeki
  • Journal Title: Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Pages: 227-230
  • DOI: 10.2463/mrms.bc.2020-0046
  • NAID: 130008046945
  • ISSN: 1347-3182, 1880-2206
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Brain White-Matter Degeneration Due to Aging and Parkinson Disease as Revealed by Double Diffusion Encoding (2020)
  • Author(s): Kamiya Kouhei、Kamagata Koji、Ogaki Kotaro、Hatano Taku、Ogawa Takashi、Takeshige-Amano Haruka、Murata Syo、Andica Christina、Murata Katsutoshi、Feiweier Thorsten、Hori Masaaki、Hattori Nobutaka、Aoki Shigeki
  • Journal Title: Frontiers in Neuroscience Volume: 14 Pages: 584-510
  • DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.584510
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] NODDI in clinical research (2020)
  • Author(s): Kamiya Kouhei、Hori Masaaki、Aoki Shigeki
  • Journal Title: Journal of Neuroscience Methods Volume: 346 Pages: 108908-108908
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108908
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Comparison of cortical gray matter and subcortical gray matter using double diffusion encoding (2021)
  • Author(s): Shimpei Kato, Kouhei Kamiya, Koji Kamagata, Hiroshi Kusahara, Masahiro Abe, Shohei Fujita, Toshiaki Akashi, Katsuhiro Sano, Akihiko Wada, Masaaki Hori, Osamu Abe, Shigeki Aoki
  • Organizer: ISMRM 29th annual meeting
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Microscopic fractional anisotropy measurements from double diffusion encoding for human brain tumor diagnosis (2020)
  • Author(s): Masaaki Hori, Masanori Ozaki, Hiroshi Kusahara, Masahiro Abe, Shuji Sato, Seiko Shimizu, Kouhei Kamiya, Toshiaki Akashi, Koji Kamagata, Shigeki Aoki
  • Organizer: ISMRM 28th annual meeting
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Double diffusion encodingによる脳白質解析の初期経験 (2019)
  • Author(s): 神谷昂平
  • Organizer: 第47回日本磁気共鳴医学会大会
• [Presentation] 臨床用MRI装置でのSurface-to-Volume ratio：ウシ卵巣標本での実験 (2019)
  • Author(s): 神谷昂平
  • Organizer: 第47回日本磁気共鳴医学会大会
• [Presentation] Studying disease-related brain alterations in bipolar disorder with combined analysis of DKI and VBM. (2019)
  • Author(s): 神谷昂平
  • Organizer: ISMRM 2019
  • Int'l Joint Research