Disease-context dependence of periventricular diffusivity and DTI-ALPS in asymptomatic moyamoya disease
- 1Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University
- 2Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University
Abstract
Asymptomatic moyamoya disease, chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, periventricular diffusivity (PVeD), and diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) are relevant to the study of brain fluid transport and vascular cognitive impairment. PVeD has recently been proposed as a diffusion MRI marker related to amyloid burden and cognition in the Alzheimer's disease continuum, but whether this marker has similar cognitive relevance in chronic hypoperfusion remains unclear. We studied 59 patients with asymptomatic moyamoya disease who had complete demographic, cognitive, diffusion MRI-derived imaging, white matter hyperintensity (WMH), and bilateral Suzuki staging data. Age, sex, MoCA, MMSE, bilateral and mean ALPS indices, and bilateral and mean PVeD indices were analyzed using Spearman correlation, age- and sex-adjusted partial correlation, and multivariable linear regression. False discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied to the correlation analyses. After age- and sex adjustment and FDR correction, five of the six ALPS-cognition partial correlations remained significant (mean, left, and right ALPS with MoCA; mean and left ALPS with MMSE), whereas non e of the six PVeD-cognition partial correlations survived FDR correction. In sensitivity models additionally adjusted for WMH burden and maximum hemispheric Suzuki stage, mean ALPS remained associated with MoCA, whereas its association with MMSE was attenuated; mean PVeD was not associated with either cognitive score. These cross-sectional findings suggest that the cognitive relevance of diffusion-based brain fluid markers may vary according to the underlying disease context, structural white matter injury, and angiographic disease severity, and support further longitudinal validation in vascular populations.
Related
- Moyamoya disease presenting as galactorrhea
- Delayed Posterior Choroidal Artery Aneurysm Formation and Rupture in a Postsuperior Temporal Artery to Middle Cerebral Artery Bypass Moyamoya Disease Patient
- 7 T MRI in moyamoya disease: current evidence and AI-assisted future directions—a narrative review
- Genome-wide cell-free DNA methylation profiling via TAPS for moyamoya disease diagnosis and postoperative collateral formation prediction
- Multi-Omics Insights Into Circulating T-Cell Metabolic Reprogramming and Treg Dysfunction in Moyamoya Disease.
BibTeX
@article{liu2026diseasecontext,
title = {{Disease-context dependence of periventricular diffusivity and DTI-ALPS in asymptomatic moyamoya disease}},
author = {Haitao Liu and Xingchen Liu and Hang Ji and Anqi Xiao and Yi Liu},
journal = {Frontiers in Neurology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fneur.2026.1927018},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1927018/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Disease-context dependence of periventricular diffusivity and DTI-ALPS in asymptomatic moyamoya disease
AU - Haitao Liu
AU - Xingchen Liu
AU - Hang Ji
AU - Anqi Xiao
AU - Yi Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Frontiers in Neurology
DO - 10.3389/fneur.2026.1927018
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2026.1927018/full
AB - Asymptomatic moyamoya disease, chronic cerebral hypoperfusion, periventricular diffusivity (PVeD), and diffusion tensor image analysis along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) are relevant to the study of brain fluid transport and vascular cognitive impairment. PVeD has recently been proposed as a diffusion MRI marker related to amyloid burden and cognition in the Alzheimer's disease continuum, but whether this marker has similar cognitive relevance in chronic hypoperfusion remains unclear. We studied 59 patients with asymptomatic moyamoya disease who had complete demographic, cognitive, diffusion MRI-derived imaging, white matter hyperintensity (WMH), and bilateral Suzuki staging data. Age, sex, MoCA, MMSE, bilateral and mean ALPS indices, and bilateral and mean PVeD indices were analyzed using Spearman correlation, age- and sex-adjusted partial correlation, and multivariable linear regression. False discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied to the correlation analyses. After age- and sex adjustment and FDR correction, five of the six ALPS-cognition partial correlations remained significant (mean, left, and right ALPS with MoCA; mean and left ALPS with MMSE), whereas non e of the six PVeD-cognition partial correlations survived FDR correction. In sensitivity models additionally adjusted for WMH burden and maximum hemispheric Suzuki stage, mean ALPS remained associated with MoCA, whereas its association with MMSE was attenuated; mean PVeD was not associated with either cognitive score. These cross-sectional findings suggest that the cognitive relevance of diffusion-based brain fluid markers may vary according to the underlying disease context, structural white matter injury, and angiographic disease severity, and support further longitudinal validation in vascular populations.
SN - 1664-2295
ER -