Diagnostic value of quantitative brain synthetic magnetic resonance imaging in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea

Aim

Investigating the diagnostic value of quantitative brain synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (SyMRI) in adult patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and brain microstructural injury.

Materials and Methods

Fifty untreated OSA patients at initial diagnosis who were diagnosed were collected as the OSA group, with 36 non-OSA patients as the normal group. Afterwards, all subjects underwent cranial scans using GE SIGNA Architect 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging. Meanwhile, the differences in grey matter relaxation values, white matter relaxation values, and proton density (PD) values between the 2 groups were compared, followed by an analysis of the correlation between the above parameters and apnoea–hypopnoea index (AHI).

Results

Compared with the normal group, T2 values of grey and white matter were significantly decreased, and T1 and PD values of grey matter were slightly decreased in the OSA group, with significant differences (P<005). In the meantime, receiver operating characteristic curves suggested the highest area under the curve (AUC) (0.74) and a high sensitivity (92.0%) of T2 values of white matter, along with a low specificity (52.0%). Additionally, the T1 and T2 values of grey matter shared the same AUC (0.69), which exhibited high specificity (75.0%) and high sensitivity (92.0%), respectively. Furthermore, Spearman correlation analysis indicated that T1 values of grey matter were positively correlated with AHI, while T2 values of grey and white matter were negatively correlated with AHI (P<0.05).

Conclusion

SyMRI quantitative imaging parameters are of significant clinical value for adult OSA patients, especially T2 relaxation values, which are beneficial for the early diagnosis of brain microstructural injury.