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Whole-brain changes in white matter microstructure after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a diffusion tensor imaging study

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Abstract

Radiation-induced local white matter (WM) damage has been observed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) within a priori-defined regions of interest following radiotherapy (RT) for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). In this study, we aimed to detect WM changes throughout the brain of NPC patients by DTI. Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used to analyze DTI data from 81 NPC patients. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were quantified across the whole brain in separate groups: pre-RT, and <6, 6–12, and >12 months post-RT. We found that fractional anisotropy values were significantly lower in the right frontal, parietal, and occipital WM <6 months post-RT compared with pre-RT and remained significantly lower in the right frontal and parietal WM at >12 months. MD values were significantly higher in the right occipital, bilateral temporal, right occipital–temporal junction, left parietal, left centrum semiovale, and left frontal–parietal junction WM <6 months post-RT and remained higher in the right occipital WM at >12 months. This study suggests that changes in white matter microstructure following RT for NPC were widespread, complex, and dynamic. Diffusion tensor imaging with TBSS analysis allows for early non-invasive detection of RT-induced WM damage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81271389), the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2011b060200002), and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangzhou, China (No. 11A52120825).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of MRI, The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, No. 1, Jianshe East Road, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

      Fuhong Duan, Jingliang Cheng & Yong Zhang

    2. Department of Medical Imaging Center, The first affiliated hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, 16# Jichang Road, Guangzhou, 510405, China

      Fuhong Duan & Shijun Qiu

    3. Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, No. 585, Xingyuan North Road, Wuxi, 214041, China

      Jianwei Jiang & Jun Chang

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    1. Fuhong Duan
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    Correspondence to Shijun Qiu.

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    All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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    Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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    F. Duan and J. Cheng contributed equally to the article.

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    Duan, F., Cheng, J., Jiang, J. et al. Whole-brain changes in white matter microstructure after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a diffusion tensor imaging study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 273, 4453–4459 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4127-x

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-016-4127-x

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