A longitudinal study of brain morphometrics using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and difference image analysis
Abstract
Serial quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allows the detection of subtle volumetric changes in brain volume. We used serial volumetry and voxel-based difference image analysis to quantify and characterize longitudinal changes in the hippocampus, cerebellum, and neocortex in younger and middle-age individuals. Paired volumetric MRI brain scans 3.5 years apart were performed on 90 healthy subjects 14 to 77 years old. Quantitative assessment of registered images included hippocampal volumetry, cerebellar volumetry, and automatically determined regional brain volumes. Longitudinal volume changes in three age epochs (<35, 35-54, >54 years) were compared and neocortical changes beyond regions of interest were visualized using filtered difference images. Cross-sectional analysis revealed a significant association between age and reduction in all brain volumes except hippocampal volume. Changes in normalized hippocampal and white matter volume were significantly different among the three groups. Individual analysis revealed 5 subjects with significant longitudinal volume changes lying outside the normative range. Difference image analysis showed global involutional changes in the >54 age group. Our findings suggest that cross-sectional observations in intracranial volume, cerebellar volume, and gray matter volume are likely to reflect uniform rates of volume loss or secular changes. Accelerated brain atrophy was seen from the age of 35-54 and increased rates of hippocampal atrophy from the age of 54. Our findings emphasize the importance of controlling for age effects when studying pathological brain changes over a wide age range.
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The advantage of a longitudinal PET-MR combined study relative to cross-sectional designs has been occasionally but not consistently shown.
“Although a longitudinal PET-MR combined study would obviously be of considerable interest, the advantage of this approach relative to cross-sectional designs has been occasionally [40,65], but not consistently [27,75], shown.”
From Voxel-based mapping of brain gray matter volume and glucose metabolism profiles in normal aging (2009) · cites this paper as [40]
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- Authors
- Liu, R. S. N., Lemieux, L., Bell, G. S., Sisodiya, S. M., Shorvon, S. D., Sander, J. W. A. S., & Duncan, J. S.
- Affiliations
- UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
- University College Hospital (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Duncan, J.S
- Venue
- NeuroImage
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-09
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 22-33
- ISSN
- 1053-8119 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1976253288
- Cited by
- 168
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 4.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- NeuroImage (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced MRI Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Advanced Neuroimaging Techniques and Applications
- Keywords
- brain morphometry, longitudinal brain volume change, hippocampal atrophy, cerebellar volume, brain atrophy, hippocampal volumetry, white matter volume, intracranial volume, gray matter volume, image subtraction, healthy aging
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aging, Alcohol Drinking, Algorithms, Brain, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Functional Laterality, Longitudinal Studies, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Sex Characteristics
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