Longitudinal MRI evaluations of human global cortical thickness over minutes to weeks

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate within-subject variability in global mean cortical thickness over test-retest intervals of minutes-weeks in five healthy adults. Within-subject measures of global mean thickness were consistent over these intervals. Test-retest assessments of absolute thickness differences and percent thickness differences indicated variations of, respectively, < or =0.05-0.06 mm and < or =+/-1.9-2.3%. There have been few evaluations of normal within-subject variations in cortical thickness. The present results suggest that within-subject variability in global mean cortical thickness can be low over test-retest intervals of minutes-weeks, and that longitudinal scans can establish useful baseline estimates of variability from which to assess changes due to injury, disease, or other experiences.

[1]  Kiralee M. Hayashi,et al.  Dynamics of Gray Matter Loss in Alzheimer's Disease , 2003, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[2]  A. Dale,et al.  Regional and progressive thinning of the cortical ribbon in Huntington’s disease , 2002, Neurology.

[3]  Suzanne E. Welcome,et al.  Longitudinal Mapping of Cortical Thickness and Brain Growth in Normal Children , 2022 .

[4]  Suzanne E. Welcome,et al.  Normal developmental changes in inferior frontal gray matter are associated with improvement in phonological processing: a longitudinal MRI analysis. , 2006, Cerebral cortex.

[5]  A M Dale,et al.  Measuring the thickness of the human cerebral cortex from magnetic resonance images. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  The NIH MRI study of normal brain development , 2006, NeuroImage.

[7]  H. Haidar,et al.  Measurement of Cortical Thickness in 3D Brain MRI Data: Validation of the Laplacian Method , 2006, Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging.

[8]  Anders M. Dale,et al.  Reliability of MRI-derived measurements of human cerebral cortical thickness: The effects of field strength, scanner upgrade and manufacturer , 2006, NeuroImage.

[9]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Cortical thickness analysis examined through power analysis and a population simulation , 2005, NeuroImage.

[10]  A. Dale,et al.  Thinning of the cerebral cortex in aging. , 2004, Cerebral cortex.

[11]  G. Lohmann,et al.  Morphometry demonstrates loss of cortical thickness in cerebral microangiopathy , 2005, Journal of Neurology.

[12]  Jerry L Prince,et al.  Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of anatomical sulcal changes associated with aging. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[13]  A. C. Evans,et al.  The NIH MRI study of normal brain development: Gender-based differences in correlation of IQ with corticometric measures in healthy children aged 6 to 18 , 2009, NeuroImage.

[14]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Longitudinal mapping of cortical thickness and clinical outcome in children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. , 2006, Archives of general psychiatry.

[15]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Spatial patterns of cortical thinning in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. , 2006, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[16]  Chiara Romualdi,et al.  Cortical atrophy is relevant in multiple sclerosis at clinical onset , 2007, Journal of Neurology.

[17]  A. Dale,et al.  Focal thinning of the cerebral cortex in multiple sclerosis. , 2003, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[18]  Marianna D. Eddy,et al.  Regionally localized thinning of the cerebral cortex in schizophrenia , 2003, Schizophrenia Research.

[19]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Focal decline of cortical thickness in Alzheimer's disease identified by computational neuroanatomy. , 2004, Cerebral cortex.