Effect of Alzheimer's disease on brain mechanical properties
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) to measure the viscoelastic properties of the brain in patients with Alzheimer disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: a pilot study.
IRAS ID
223717
Contact name
John Starr
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
The main aim of this research is to determine the feasibility of using an Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique known as MR Elastography (MRE) to study the viscoelastic properties (i.e. stiffness) of the brain in patients with both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI).
The application of MRE to other organs, such as the liver, has shown the high sensitivity for MRE to detect pathological changes to soft tissue, and therefore may be useful in the early detection of a wide range of brain diseases.
Our previous MRE study in young and cognitively healthy older participants (aged 65 and over) found that MRE was very well tolerated as indicated by a questionnaire provided after the scan. This study also utilised two alternative MRE methods; we have since identified the most reliable method resulting in a shorter scan time to be used in this study (25 minutes instead of 45 minutes).
We will recruit from the Join Dementia Research database and NHS Lothian Memory Services. All participants will have the capacity to consent for themselves and will be required to visit the Edinburgh Imaging Facility QMRI (CRIC), University of Edinburgh.
Funding for the scans is provided by the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre.The study protocol will involve lying in an MRI scanner for approximately 25 minutes. Structural images of the brain will be obtained before the use of an MRE pulse sequence. For MRE, it is necessary to vibrate the head very gently. To do this, compressed air is generated and transferred via a plastic tube to a soft head-pillow device. The vibration will occur for 12 minutes. After the scan, each participant will also undergo a number of cognitive tests to allow us to assess the effect of disease severity on the MRE images.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
17/SS/0041
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion