中国物理B ›› 2015, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (7): 70502-070502.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/24/7/070502

• GENERAL • 上一篇    下一篇

Multifractal analysis of white matter structural changes on 3D magnetic resonance imaging between normal aging and early Alzheimer's disease

倪黄晶a, 周泸萍b, 曾彭a, 黄晓林a, 刘红星a, 宁新宝a, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiativea   

  1. a School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China;
    b School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia
  • 收稿日期:2014-12-24 修回日期:2015-02-05 出版日期:2015-07-05 发布日期:2015-07-05
  • 基金资助:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61271079), the Vice Chancellor Research Grant in University of Wollongong, and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China.

Multifractal analysis of white matter structural changes on 3D magnetic resonance imaging between normal aging and early Alzheimer's disease

Ni Huang-Jing (倪黄晶)a, Zhou Lu-Ping (周泸萍)b, Zeng Peng (曾彭)a, Huang Xiao-Lin (黄晓林)a, Liu Hong-Xing (刘红星)a, Ning Xin-Bao (宁新宝)a, the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiativea   

  1. a School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China;
    b School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong NSW 2522, Australia
  • Received:2014-12-24 Revised:2015-02-05 Online:2015-07-05 Published:2015-07-05
  • Contact: Zhou Lu-Ping, Ning Xin-Bao E-mail:lupingz@uow.edu.au;xbning@nju.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61271079), the Vice Chancellor Research Grant in University of Wollongong, and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China.

摘要:

Applications of multifractal analysis to white matter structure changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have recently received increasing attentions. Although some progresses have been made, there is no evident study on applying multifractal analysis to evaluate the white matter structural changes on MRI for Alzheimer's disease (AD) research. In this paper, to explore multifractal analysis of white matter structural changes on 3D MRI volumes between normal aging and early AD, we not only extend the traditional box-counting multifractal analysis (BCMA) into the 3D case, but also propose a modified integer ratio based BCMA (IRBCMA) algorithm to compensate for the rigid division rule in BCMA. We verify multifractal characteristics in 3D white matter MRI volumes. In addition to the previously well studied multifractal feature, Δα, we also demonstrated Δf as an alternative and effective multifractal feature to distinguish NC from AD subjects. Both Δα and Δf are found to have strong positive correlation with the clinical MMSE scores with statistical significance. Moreover, the proposed IRBCMA can be an alternative and more accurate algorithm for 3D volume analysis. Our findings highlight the potential usefulness of multifractal analysis, which may contribute to clarify some aspects of the etiology of AD through detection of structural changes in white matter.

关键词: multifractal, white matter structural change, magnetic resonance imaging, Alzheimer', s disease

Abstract:

Applications of multifractal analysis to white matter structure changes on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have recently received increasing attentions. Although some progresses have been made, there is no evident study on applying multifractal analysis to evaluate the white matter structural changes on MRI for Alzheimer's disease (AD) research. In this paper, to explore multifractal analysis of white matter structural changes on 3D MRI volumes between normal aging and early AD, we not only extend the traditional box-counting multifractal analysis (BCMA) into the 3D case, but also propose a modified integer ratio based BCMA (IRBCMA) algorithm to compensate for the rigid division rule in BCMA. We verify multifractal characteristics in 3D white matter MRI volumes. In addition to the previously well studied multifractal feature, Δα, we also demonstrated Δf as an alternative and effective multifractal feature to distinguish NC from AD subjects. Both Δα and Δf are found to have strong positive correlation with the clinical MMSE scores with statistical significance. Moreover, the proposed IRBCMA can be an alternative and more accurate algorithm for 3D volume analysis. Our findings highlight the potential usefulness of multifractal analysis, which may contribute to clarify some aspects of the etiology of AD through detection of structural changes in white matter.

Key words: multifractal, white matter structural change, magnetic resonance imaging, Alzheimer', s disease

中图分类号:  (Fractals)

  • 05.45.Df
47.53.+n (Fractals in fluid dynamics) 87.19.lf (MRI: anatomic, functional, spectral, diffusion) 87.61.-c (Magnetic resonance imaging)