Motivation: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) induces brain structural alterations, even in the absence of neuropsychiatric symptoms. Goal(s): Investigate cortical microstructure alterations in SLE patients without neuropsychiatric manifestations, identify most damaged regions, and assess diagnostic efficacy of diffusion models. Approach: Gray matter-based spatial statistics (GBSS) on DKI and NODDI data were conducted for microstructure analysis. Overlaps of significantly different regions from surface-based morphometry and GBSS were calculated to identify critical areas. Logistic regression was applied to compare diagnostic efficacy of models. Results: SLE patients exhibited increased MD, MK, NDI and ODI; temporal and frontal lobes most affected. Combined diffusion model demonstrated optimal diagnostic efficacy. Impact: This study provides a comprehensive understanding of gray matter changes and pinpoints the most affected regions in SLE. The combination of DKI and NODDI models presents optimal diagnostic efficacy.
Hu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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