The Effect of Aging on the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient of Normal-Appearing White Matter

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Abstract
OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to test the hypothesis that the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of normal-appearing white matter increases with advancing age.SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We selected 38 patients with normal MR imaging findings from 332 patients undergoing clinical MR imaging. Diffusion-weighted MR imaging was performed with diffusion gradients applied in three orthogonal directions. For each patient, the average ADC on trace-weighted diffusion images of white matter at prespecified regions of interest and at the thalamus were compared with the patient's age.RESULTS. For the white matter, ADC sorted by patient age in decades increased with advancing age. Patients at least 60 years old had significantly higher ADC (0.769 ± 0.019 mm2/sec × 10-3) than patients less than 60 years old (0.740 ± 0.013 mm2/sec × 10-3) (p < 0.001). Comparison of individual white matter ADC and age showed a significant increase with advancing age (p < 0.0001). For the thalamus, the average ADC among patients at...