Abstract

VINA GONZALEZ, Ariel et al. Longitudinal MRI processing to document the effect of drugs in clinical trials. EAC [online]. 2021, vol.42, n.3, pp. 71-81.  Epub Dec 11, 2021. ISSN 1815-5928.

In Cuba drugs are produced to treat dissimilar diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to identify and validate biomarkers, which make it possible to assess the natural course of the disease and the effect over time of drugs used during clinical trials. Our goal is establishing an automatic methodology for the longitudinal calculation of brain structures to study magnetic resonance images of subjects participating in these trials. Twenty Cuban subjects diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 20 healthy individuals from the international database ADNI 3 (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative) participated, both groups studied twice in one year. The steps for the longitudinal volumetric quantification of the hippocampus were established for FreeSurfer 6.0. The pipeline was validated by not finding significant differences between the processing results with those reported by ADNI 3. Significant differences were found between the annual percentage change and the hippocampal asymmetry index between healthy and diseased subjects. Accelerated atrophy was observed in sick subjects compared to healthy subjects. For the first time in Cuba, longitudinal processing for the volumetric quantification of brain structures can be used as an imaging biomarker in research and clinical trials. A longitudinal procedure for automated volumetric quantification of the hippocampus was established and validated. Its usefulness and reliability were demonstrated by showing results similar to those reported in international databases.

Keywords : Image Biomarker; Alzheimer's Disease; FreeSurfer; Hippocampus; MRI; Longitudinal Tracking.

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