Longitudinal mapping of cortical surface changes in Huntington’s disease

This paper investigated cortical folding in Huntington’s disease to understand how disease progression impacts the surface of the cortex. Cortical morphometry changes in eight gyral based regions of interest (i.e. the left and right hemispheres of the lateral occipital, precentral, superior frontal and rostral middle gyri) were examined. We used existing neuroimaging data from IMAGE-HD, comprising 26 pre-symptomatic, 26 symptomatic and 24 healthy control individuals at three separate time points (baseline, 18-month, 30-month). Local gyrification index and cortical thickness were derived as the measures of cortical morphometry using FreeSurfer 6.0’s longitudinal pipeline. The gyral based regions of interest were identified using the Desikan-Killiany Atlas. A Group by Time repeated measures ANCOVA was conducted for each region of interest. We found significantly lower LGI at a group level in the right hemisphere lateral occipital region and both hemispheres of the precentral region; as well as significantly reduced cortical thickness at a group level in both hemispheres of the lateral occipital and precentral regions and the right hemisphere of the superior frontal region. We also found a Group by Time interaction for Local gyrification index in the right hemisphere lateral occipital region. This change was largely driven by a significant decrease in the symptomatic group between baseline and 18-months. Additionally, lower local gyrification index and cortical thickness were associated with higher disease burden score. These findings demonstrate that significant longitudinal decline in right hemisphere local gyrification index is evident during manifest disease in lateral occipital cortex and that these changes are more profound in individuals with greater disease burden score.