Elsevier

NeuroImage

Volume 36, Issue 4, 15 July 2007, Pages 1294-1300
NeuroImage

Independent contributions of cortical gray matter atrophy and ventricle enlargement for predicting neuropsychological impairment in multiple sclerosis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.04.017Get rights and content

Abstract

The primary goal of this study was to investigate associations between regional gray matter (GM) atrophy and neuropsychological function in multiple sclerosis (MS), while accounting for the influence of central brain atrophy (i.e. third ventricle enlargement). Using a cross-sectional design, we studied 59 MS patients with brain MRI and neuropsychological testing. Regional gray matter fractions (rGMFs) were calculated from MRI images for 11 homologous brain areas using the semiautomatic brain region extraction (SABRE) technique. Neuropsychological testing followed consensus panel guidelines and included tests emphasizing episodic memory, working memory and processing speed. The analytic approach was stepwise linear regression, with forward selection and p < 0.05 threshold for significance. Consistent with previous research, there were significant correlations between third ventricle width and neuropsychological tests. Stepwise linear regression analyses controlling for third ventricle width retained rGMFs obtained from specific regions within the prefrontal cortex. Left frontal atrophy was associated with tests emphasizing auditory/verbal memory. Right frontal atrophy was associated with impairment in visual episodic and working memory. For the first time, we show an independent relationship between cortical atrophy and cognitive impairment after accounting for the effects of central atrophy.

Introduction

Recent studies showing that brain atrophy is a better predictor of neuropsychological deterioration in multiple sclerosis (MS) than lesion burden (Benedict et al., 2004c, Bermel and Bakshi, 2006, Christodoulou et al., 2003, Zivadinov et al., 2001) have raised questions about the traditional view of MS as a subcortical or white-matter (WM) dementia (Filley et al., 1989, Swirsky-Sacchetti et al., 1992). Slowed processing speed is a hallmark of MS-associated cognitive dysfunction and the disruption of white matter tracts interconnecting association cortices has long been considered a viable explanation of such slowing. However, in MS, gray matter (GM) volume appears to have unique (Sanfilipo et al., 2006), if not greater (Bakshi et al., 2005, Dalton et al., 2004) clinical relevance than WM lesions or volume. GM atrophy is more strongly associated with cognitive decline, especially when the cerebral cortex is assessed (Amato et al., 2004, Benedict et al., 2006a). Thus, it would appear that cognitive impairment in MS can be attributed to cortical as well as subcortical cerebral pathology.

It is also well established that structural imaging measures such as whole brain volume, tissue compartment (e.g. GM) volumes, ventricle size and lesion volume, are strongly inter-correlated. Thus, when stepwise regression models are employed to predict neuropsychological outcomes on the basis of MRI, usually only one variable remains in the model (Benedict et al., 2006a, Benedict et al., 2004c, Benedict et al., 2004a) and measures of third or lateral ventricle volume (i.e. central atrophy) yield the strongest effects (Benedict et al., 2004a, Christodoulou et al., 2003). In other words, when investigators attempt to learn which structural imaging measure is most closely aligned with MS-associated cognitive impairment, models accounting for a general measure such as ventricle enlargement leave little residual variance for understanding more specific brain–behavior relationships. Previously, we measured regional lobar atrophy (regional brain parenchymal fraction of frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes in each hemisphere) to predict cognitive performance in MS patients (Benedict et al., 2005, Locatelli et al., 2004). The results revealed that temporal atrophy was a significant predictor of both auditory/verbal and visual/spatial memory whereas learning consistency was predicted by frontal atrophy. This study did not control for the effects of ventricle enlargement, a powerful predictor of NP impairment in MS (Benedict et al., 2006a, Benedict et al., 2004c, Benedict et al., 2004a).

In the present study, we investigated the null hypothesis that regional cortical atrophy does not contribute to the prediction of neuropsychological impairment after accounting for third ventricle width. We used semi-automated brain region extraction (SABRE) to parcellate the brain into 26 regions in accordance with previous research (Carone et al., 2006, Dade et al., 2004, Feinstein et al., 2004). We measured GM atrophy in those regions of the brain where GM corresponds to the cerebral cortex rather than the deep gray matter. Regression models predicting cognitive outcomes included these GM volumes after controlling for the influence of third ventricle width.

Section snippets

Participants

We retrospectively studied 59 patients with clinically definite MS (McDonald et al., 2001) using brain MRI and neuropsychological testing assessments within a 180-day window (mean difference 67.46 ± 50.93, range 0–175 days). Patients with preexisting medical conditions associated with NP compromise were excluded, as were patients receiving steroid treatment or who had relapsed in the 3 months prior to participation. Demographic data (mean ± SD) were as follows: age 44.7 ± 8.6 years, education 14.2 ± 

Results

Partial correlation coefficients controlling for age between third ventricle width and neuropsychological tests were significant for CVLT2-TL (r =  0.41, p < 0.001), CVLT2-DR (r =  0.44, p < 0.001), BVMTR-TL (r =  0.29, p < 0.5), PASAT (r =  0.29, p < 0.05) and SDMT (r =  0.59, p < 0.001). Although BVMTR-DR was negatively correlated with third ventricle width, this correlation did not reach the level of statistical significance. There were no significant correlations between BDIFS and either rGMFs or NP scores.

Discussion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing that both central and cortical atrophy contribute independently to predicting the presence of slowed processing speed and memory disorder in MS. Various structural MRI measures of brain volume and pathology are highly intercorrelated. It is now well documented that cortical volume is correlated with cognitive impairment in MS (Amato et al., 2004, Benedict et al., 2006a), and in one study, there was a regionally specific relationship

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