Texture analysis of MRI reveals basal ganglia damage in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (P2.064)

OBJECTIVE: To study basal ganglia damage in patients with ALS by texture analysis.BACKGROUND: Motor neuron impairment is the hallmark of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), but other cerebral regions are involved in the disease as well. Texture analysis (TA) of MRI is a technique based on the evaluation of gray levels between pixels in a given region of interest (ROI). It has been found to be useful in several neurodegenerative disorders.DESIGN/METHODS: We acquired volumetric T1-weighted images in a 3T MRI (Philips Achieva) of 32 ALS patients (19 men, mean age: 56.5) and 32 healthy controls (20 men, mean age: 53.5). The segmentation of ROIs (cerebral peduncle, putamen, caudate and thalamus) and TA were made blindly using the Mazda software. We calculated 11 texture-based parameters (Angular Second Moment (ASM), Contrast (CT), Correlation (CO), Sum of Squares (SS), Inverse Difference Moment (IDM), Sum Averages (SA), Sum Variances (SV), Sum Entropy (SE), Entropy (E), Difference Variance (DV) and Difference Entropy (DE)) and five distances (d) for each structure. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney test, adopting uncorrected p values u003c0.01.RESULTS: Significant changes were found in the right caudate and thalamus bilaterally. The distances and texture parameters more meaningful were d=1 (0.4368 x 0.3972,p=0.0350),d=2 (0.1527 x 0.0895,p=0.0075) and d=3 (0.0434 x -0.0152,p=0.0032) for CO parameter in the right caudate and d=1 (0.5877 x 0.5405,p=0.0111) for CO, d=4 (0.1886 x 0.2072,p=0.0107) for IDM, d=5 (0.1659 x 0.1908,p=0.0064) for IDM in the left thalamus and d=4 (-0.0310 x 0.0008,p=0.0168) for CO, d=5 (-0.1411 x -0.0984,p=0.0111) for CO, d=5 (0.1870x0.2081,p= 0.0150) for IDM in the right thalamus.CONCLUSIONS: Texture analysis identified basal ganglia damage in ALS. Further studies are needed to investigate the clinical correlates of such damage.Study supported by: CAPES; FAPESP Disclosure: Dr. Albuquerque has nothing to disclose. Dr. Anjos has nothing to disclose. Dr. Andrade has nothing to disclose. Dr. Oliveira has nothing to disclose. Dr. Castellano has nothing to disclose. Dr. Franca, Jr. has nothing to disclose. Dr. Nucci has nothing to disclose.