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47/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 47 out of 100. Mild cognitive impairment

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Background and purpose Along with cortical abnormalities, white matter microstructural changes such as axonal loss and myelin breakdown are implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease. Recently, a white matter model was introduced that relates non-Gaussian diffusional kurtosis imaging metrics to characteristics of white matter tract integrity, including the axonal water fraction, the intra-axonal diffusivity, and the extra-axonal axial and radial diffusivities. Materials and methods This study reports these white matter tract integrity metrics in subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (n = 12), Alzheimer disease (n = 14), and age-matched healthy controls (n = 15) in an effort to investigate their sensitivity, diagnostic accuracy, and associations with white matter changes through the course of Alzheimer disease. Results With tract-based spatial statistics and region-of-interest analyses, increased diffusivity in the extra-axonal space (extra-axonal axial and radial diffusivities) in several white matter tracts sensitively and accurately discriminated healthy controls from those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.82-0.95), while widespread decreased axonal water fraction discriminated amnestic mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer disease (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.84). Additionally, these white matter tract integrity metrics in the body of the corpus callosum were strongly correlated with processing speed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (r = |0.80-0.82|, P Conclusions These findings have implications for the course and spatial progression of white matter degeneration in Alzheimer disease, suggest the mechanisms by which these changes occur, and demonstrate the viability of these white matter tract integrity metrics as potential neuroimaging biomarkers of the earliest stages of Alzheimer disease and disease progression.

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APA 7th

Fieremans, E., Benitez, A., Jensen, J. H., Falangola, M. F., Tabesh, A., Deardorff, R. L., et al. (2013). Novel white matter tract integrity metrics sensitive to Alzheimer disease progression. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology. https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.a3553

Vancouver

Fieremans E, Benitez A, Jensen JH, Falangola MF, Tabesh A, Deardorff RL, et al. Novel white matter tract integrity metrics sensitive to Alzheimer disease progression. AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology. 2013. doi:10.3174/ajnr.a3553. PMID: 23764722.

BibTeX

@article{fieremans2013-23764722,
  author  = {Fieremans, E. and Benitez, A. and Jensen, J. H. and Falangola, M. F. and Tabesh, A. and Deardorff, R. L. and Spampinato, M. V. and Babb, J. S. and others},
  title   = {{Novel white matter tract integrity metrics sensitive to Alzheimer disease progression}},
  journal = {AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology},
  year    = {2013},
  doi     = {10.3174/ajnr.a3553},
  pmid    = {23764722},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.a3553}
}

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Key findings

Results With tract-based spatial statistics and region-of-interest analyses, increased diffusivity in the extra-axonal space (extra-axonal axial and radial diffusivities) in several white matter tracts sensitively and accurately discriminated healthy controls from those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.82-0.95), while widespread decreased axonal water fraction discriminated amnestic mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer disease (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.84).
Additionally, these white matter tract integrity metrics in the body of the corpus callosum were strongly correlated with processing speed in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (r = |0.80-0.82|, P < .001).

Why it matters

Novel white matter tract integrity metrics from diffusion kurtosis imaging discriminated healthy controls from amnestic mild cognitive impairment and amnestic mild cognitive impairment from Alzheimer's disease with good accuracy. These metrics were also correlated with processing speed, suggesting they may be sensitive to disease progression, but this was a small study.

Study details

Participants12
Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 47/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	American Journal of Neuroradiology: journal h-index 182 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2013 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	1 / 4	12 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	5 / 7	Cited 148 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	9.9 citations a year over 15 year(s) since 2013
Impact for its field and year	4 / 6	Cited 11.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	2 / 4	Cited 23 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Joseph A. Helpern: h-index 60 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	New York University: institution h-index 1,612 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 23764722)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	47 / 100	—

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