Synthetic quantitative magnetic resonance imaging and quantitative susceptibility mapping to reveal brain function in Type 2 Diabetes

Motivation: Identification of high-risk dementia in T2DM is very important for early intervention. Goal(s): To explore a feasible imaging approach in early discovering T2DM-driven cognitive impairment. Approach: To compare ROI-based retrieved relaxation time of synthetic magnetic resonance imaging and quantitative susceptibility values between T2DM and healthy cohorts (NCs) and also correlate significant differences of all measurements with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores. Results: T2DM had higher T1 and T2 relaxation time, PD and QS values in some brain regions than NCs. Moreover, T1 value of left insula was negatively associated with MoCA. Impact: Synthetic MRI and QSM can detect abnormal brain areas associated with in T2DM, and the former had more potential in clinically diagnosing early alteration in T2DM due to more direct visualization and measurements on the scanner console.