AUTHOR=Ren Huixia , Zhu Jin , Su Xiaolin , Chen Siyan , Zeng Silin , Lan Xiaoyong , Zou Liang-Yu , Sughrue Michael E. , Guo Yi 

TITLE=Application of Structural and Functional Connectome Mismatch for Classification and Individualized Therapy in Alzheimer Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 8 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.584430

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2020.584430

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=While machine learning approaches to analyzing Alzheimer’s disease connectome neuroimaging data have been studied, many have limited ability to provide insight individual patterns of disease and lack the ability to provide actionable information about where in the brain a specific patient’s disease is located.
We studied a cohort of patients with Alzheimer’s disease who underwent resting state fMRI and Diffusion tractography imaging. These images were processed and a structural and functional connectivity matrix was generated using the HCP cortical and subcortical atlas.  By generating a machine learning model, individual level structural and functional anomalies detection and characterization were explored in this study. 
Our study found that structural disease burden in Alzheimer’s patients is mainly focused in the subcortical structures and in the Default mode network (DMN).  Interestingly, functional anomalies were less consistent between individuals and less common in general in these patients.  More intriguing was that some structural anomalies were noted in all patients in the study, namely a reduction in fibers involving parcellations in the right anterior cingulate. Alternately, the functional consequences of connectivity loss were cortical and variable.
We performed a preliminary exploration into a set of Alzheimer’s data with a goal of revising a heuristic for analyzing these patients with the goal of improving a personalized approach to understanding individual connectomes in an actionable manner.   Specifically, we found that there were consistent patterns of white matter fiber loss, mainly focused around the DMN and deep subcortical structures, which were present in nearly all patients with clinical Alzheimer’s disease. While the fMRI shows abnormal of functional connectivity different within the patients which may be used as the individual target for further therapeutic strategies making.