Application of MRI and electrovestibulography on Alzheimer's disease: diagnosis, monitoring and predicting response to treatment
| dc.contributor.author | Saha, Chandan | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Lithgow, Brian (Electrical and Computer Engineering) | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Figley, Chase R. (Radiology) | |
| dc.contributor.examiningcommittee | Abolmaesumi, Purang (University of British Columbia) | |
| dc.contributor.supervisor | Moussavi, Zahra | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-12-09T16:43:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-12-09T16:43:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-12-04 | |
| dc.date.submitted | 2024-12-04T19:18:59Z | en_US |
| dc.date.submitted | 2024-12-06T23:13:47Z | en_US |
| dc.degree.discipline | Biomedical Engineering | |
| dc.degree.level | Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) | |
| dc.description.abstract | Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by gradual loss of memory and cognition. Diagnosing people with pure AD from those subjects who have mixed conditions of AD and cerebrovascular disease (AD-CVD) is a challenging research problem. Another interesting research problem is the monitoring of changes in the comorbid depression of participants with AD when repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is applied to improve their cognition. Furthermore, the rTMS has a demanding treatment protocol, and its efficacy for AD is uncertain; a method capable of predicting rTMS responses at baseline would be of great interest. In this thesis, we separately utilized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrovestibulography (EVestG) to address the above research questions; in particular, using MRI analysis investigating plausible differences between AD and AD-CVD, using EVestG investigating the impact of rTMS on depression comorbidity amongst individuals with AD who received rTMS treatment, and also using MRI analysis predicting patients’ response to rTMS treatment at baseline. This thesis consists of four studies. Firstly, we conducted voxel-based morphometry on brain MRI data of participants with AD and AD-CVD and controls. In addition to significantly lower gray matter or white matter volumes of AD and AD-CVD compared to controls, a potential differential trend was shown in MRI between AD and AD-CVD. Secondly, we calculated the EVestG-driven depression features of participants with AD and investigated whether their changes were associated with cognition change following rTMS treatment. The EVestG results showed that cognitive improvement following rTMS treatment was not likely due to the improvement in their depression status. Thirdly, significant features from the gray matter of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were found, resulting in only 69% accuracy in predicting rTMS efficacy. Fourthly, the MRI-driven histogram-based radiomic features were extracted, and the significant features of rTMS efficacy were selected in a data-driven manner, which resulted in 81.9% accuracy in classifying responders and non-responders to active rTMS. Overall, the studies presented here would provide a way of differentiating AD and AD-CVD, monitoring the quantitative status of depression in AD subjects undergoing rTMS treatment, and aiding in designing personalized treatment techniques for future AD participants. | |
| dc.description.note | February 2025 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1993/38700 | |
| dc.language.iso | eng | |
| dc.rights | open access | en_US |
| dc.subject | Alzheimer’s disease | |
| dc.subject | Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation | |
| dc.subject | Depression | |
| dc.subject | Electrovestibulography | |
| dc.subject | MRI | |
| dc.title | Application of MRI and electrovestibulography on Alzheimer's disease: diagnosis, monitoring and predicting response to treatment | |
| dc.type | doctoral thesis | en_US |
| local.subject.manitoba | no |