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Chii-Wen Jao

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3 papers

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YNICL Journal 2017 Journal Article

CAG repeat length does not associate with the rate of cerebellar degeneration in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3

Shang-Ran Huang
Yu-Te Wu
Chii-Wen Jao
Bing-Wen Soong
Jiing-Feng Lirng
Hsiu-Mei Wu
Po-Shan Wang

This cross-sectional study investigated the correlation between the CAG repeat length and the degeneration of cerebellum in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) patients based on neuroimaging approaches. Forty SCA3 patients were recruited and classified into two subgroups according to their CAG repeat lengths (≥74 and <74). We measured each patient's Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) score, N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) ratios based on magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and 3-dimensional fractal dimension (3D-FD) values derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results. Furthermore, the 3D-FD values were used to construct structural covariance networks based on graph theoretical analysis. The results revealed that SCA3 patients with a longer CAG repeat length demonstrated earlier disease onset. However, the CAG repeat length did not significantly correlate with their SARA scores, cerebellar NAA/Cr ratios or cerebellar 3D-FD values. Network dissociation between cerebellar regions and parietal-occipital regions was found in SCA3 patients with CAG≥74, but not in those with CAG<74. In conclusion, the CAG repeat length is uncorrelated with the change of SARA score, cerebellar function and cerebellar structure in SCA3. Nevertheless, a longer CAG repeat length may indicate early structural covariance network dissociation.

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YNIMG Journal 2012 Journal Article

Quantifying cerebellar atrophy in multiple system atrophy of the cerebellar type (MSA-C) using three-dimensional gyrification index analysis

Yu-Te Wu
Kuo-Kai Shyu
Chii-Wen Jao
Yuan-Lin Liao
Tzu-Yun Wang
Hsiu-Mei Wu
Po-Shan Wang
Bing-Wen Soong

Multiple system atrophy of the cerebellar type (MSA-C) is a degenerative neurological disease of the central nervous system. This study employed a method named, “surface-based three-dimensional gyrification index” (3D-GI) to quantify morphological changes in normal cerebellum (including brainstem) and atrophied cerebellum, in patients with MSA-C. We assessed whether 3D-GI can exclude gender and age differences to quantify cerebellum and brainstem atrophy more accurately. Sixteen healthy subjects and 16 MSA-C patients participated in this study. We compared 3D-GI values and volumes in the cerebellum, based on T1-weighted MR images. We also compared the images of reconstructed 3D cerebellum gray matter (3D-CBGM) and cerebellum white matter (3D-CBWM) to detect the atrophied cerebellar region in MSA-C patients. The 3D-GI values were in a stable range with small variances, exhibiting no gender effect and no age-related shrinkage. Significantly lower 3D-GI values were exhibited in both CBGM and CBWM of the MSA-C patients compared with healthy subjects, even in the early phases of the disease. Decreases in 3D-GI values indicated the degeneration of the cerebellar folding structure, exactly reflecting the morphological changes in cerebellum. The 3D-GI method based on CBGM resulted in superior discriminative accuracy compared with the CBGM volumetric method. Using the two-dimensional 3D-GI values, the K-means classifier can evidently discriminate the MSA-C patients from healthy subjects.

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YNIMG Journal 2010 Journal Article

Fractal dimension analysis for quantifying cerebellar morphological change of multiple system atrophy of the cerebellar type (MSA-C)

Yu-Te Wu
Kuo-Kai Shyu
Chii-Wen Jao
Zun-Yun Wang
Bing-Wen Soong
Hsiu-Mei Wu
Po-Shan Wang

Multiple system atrophy of the cerebellar type (MSA-C) is a degenerative neurological disease of the central nervous system. This study aims to demonstrate that the morphological changes of cerebellar structure, specifically, the cerebellum white matter (CBWM) and cerebellum gray matter (CBGM) from T1-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images, can be quantified by three-dimensional (3D) fractal dimension (FD) analysis, which is a measure of complexity. Twenty-three MSA-C patients and twenty-one normal subjects participated in this study. The results of this study show that MSA-C patients presented significantly lower FD values compared to the control group, and that morphological change in the CBWM dominates the cerebellar degeneration. In addition, the FD analysis method is superior to conventional volumetric methods in quantifying the structural changes of WM and GM because it exhibits smaller variances and less gender effect. Since a decrease of cerebellar FD value indicates degeneration of the cerebellar structure, this study further suggests that the morphological changes of cerebellar structures (CBGM and CBWM) can be characterized by FD analysis.

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