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. 2025 Jun 18:47:103829.
doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2025.103829. Online ahead of print.

Unraveling SNAP: distinct patterns of early neurodegeneration through MRI texture analysis

Min Jeong Kwon  1 , Jieun Park  1 , Sungman Jo  2 , Jun Sung Kim  3 , Hyukjun Lee  3 , Dae Jong Oh  4 , Ji Won Han  5 , Ki Woong Kim  6
Affiliations

Unraveling SNAP: distinct patterns of early neurodegeneration through MRI texture analysis

Min Jeong Kwon et al. Neuroimage Clin. .

Abstract

Aim: Suspected non-Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology (SNAP) is a condition characterized by neurodegeneration in the absence of amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition, posing challenges for early diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the progression of neurodegeneration in SNAP through the analysis of brain MRI volume and texture.

Methods: The study included 449 amyloid-negative participants categorized into three groups: cognitively normal without neurodegeneration (N-CN), cognitively normal with neurodegeneration (N + CN), and MCI with neurodegeneration (N + MCI). Volume and texture metrics were derived from T1-weighted MRI. Texture analysis quantified microstructural changes using grey level co-occurrence matrices, while volume metrics measured atrophy.

Results: Texture changes were observed earlier and more widely than volume reductions. In N + CN, texture changes were present in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. In N + MCI, texture changes extended to frontal and subcortical regions, including the thalamus and putamen, while volume reductions extended to the lateral temporal cortex and amygdala.

Conclusions: Texture analysis is a sensitive tool for detecting early neurodegenerative changes in SNAP, capturing microstructural changes preceding volume loss. By integrating texture and volume metrics, this study highlights a distinct neurodegenerative trajectory in SNAP. Future research should validate these findings longitudinally and explore the clinical application of texture metrics.

Keywords: MRI; Neurodegeneration; SNAP (suspected non-alzheimer disease pathophysiology); Texture; Volume.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
3d brain visualization of regional volume and texture changes according to stage progression (A) Regional volume changes in each diagnostic group (B) Regional texture changes in each diagnostic group Note. Dark red clusters represent regions with significant differences identified in post-hoc analysis between N-CN and N + CN. Light red clusters represent regions with significant differences identified in post-hoc analysis between N-CN and N + MCI. N-CN, cognitively normal without neurodegeneration; N + CN, cognitively normal with neurodegeneration; N + MCI, mild cognitive impairment with neurodegeneration. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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