MRI illuminates gray-matter changes in diabetic patients

Sunday, November 26 | 1:00 p.m.-1:10 p.m. | S4-SSNR01-1| Room E351 

MRI shows that people with type 2 diabetes experience a reduction of gray matter, particularly in the basal ganglia, as the disease progresses, according to a study to be presented Sunday afternoon.

The reduced volume in the basal ganglia causes "widespread, network-wise gray matter volume reductions throughout diabetes progression," wrote a team led by presenter Minchul Kim, MD, PhD, of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital in Seoul, South Korea. Decreases in gray matter in the brain are linked to cognitive impairment.

"[Our] findings indicate that the basal ganglia play a key role in diabetes by affecting the cortical-striatal-limbic network," the group noted.

Type 2 diabetes has been linked to reduced gray matter in these cortical-striatal-limbic networks, but little is known about the effect of the disease on cerebral gray matter, Kim and colleagues explained. They conducted a study that included 543 individuals divided into nondiabetic, prediabetic, and diabetic groups, according to glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels; all participants underwent MR imaging.

The team reported that a trend toward a reduction in gray-matter volume in the basal ganglia (p < 0.05) emerged as diabetes progressed, which in turn caused a decrease in bilateral temporal gyri, frontal pole, parahippocampus, and bilateral posterior cingulate/precuneus volumes. It also found that the gray-matter pattern of the basal ganglia predicted diabetes in study participants with an accuracy rate of 60.1%.

"We demonstrated that the basal ganglia is the area of stepwise gray-matter reduction according to diabetes progression," the group concluded.

Check out this session to get the full details on the research.

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