95% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Applied Neuroimaging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1467578
The application of diffusion tensor imaging in patients with mild cognitive impairment: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted- 1 Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
- 2 luoyang Hospital of TCM, Luoyang, China
To systematically evaluate the diagnostic value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) based on Metaanalysis. Materials and Methods: Databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and VIP database were searched for literature on the use of DTI in studying MCI. The search was conducted from the inception of each database up to February 20, 2024. Literature was screened based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, relevant data were extracted, and the quality of the included studies was assessed using the QUADAS-2 tool. Heterogeneity was evaluated using the Q-test and I² statistics. Fractional anisotropy (FA) values for different brain regions (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe, fornix, hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, posterior cingulum, posterior limb of the internal capsule, uncinate fasciculus, inferior frontooccipital fasciculus, superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, genu and splenium of the corpus callosum) were extracted from the MCI and normal control (NC) groups. Meta-analysis software (Review Manager 5.4) was used to perform a pooled analysis of the eligible studies to obtain the weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: A total of 76 studies were included (41 in English and35 in Chinese). The overall pooled WMD and its 95% CI were -0.03 [-0.04, -0.03], with statistically significant differences in all brain regions except for the occipital lobe and the posterior limb of the internal capsule. Conclusion: DTI technology can identify microstructural damage in the brain white matter of MCI patients, which holds significant implications for early diagnosis and intervention.
Keywords: Mild Cognitive Impairment, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, Alzheimer's disease, elder, white matter
Received: 24 Jul 2024; Accepted: 11 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, You, Ren, Ji, Liu and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Meng Lu, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.