Abstract
BACKGROUND: The incidence of cognitive impairment in patients with peritoneal dialysis (PD) and hemodialysis (HD) has been increased, but the specific mechanism is not clear. Disruption of iron homeostasis is associated with cognitive impairment. This study aimed to explore the relationship between brain iron deposition and cognitive impairment in patients with PD and HD by using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). METHODS: The cross-sectional study enrolled 56 PD patients, 66 HD patients, and 56 age-sex matched healthy controls. All participants underwent QSM to measure brain iron content and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to assess cognitive function. In addition, relevant biochemical indicators were collected and analyzed. The ANOVA was used to test for differences in susceptibility value among bilateral caudate nuclei (CAU), thalamus (THA), putamen and pallidum. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between susceptibility value and clinical laboratory parameters or MoCA score. RESULTS: Compared with HC, PD patients showed higher susceptibility value in bilateral CAU and left THA. Compared with HD patients, PD patients showed higher susceptibility value in left THA. PD patients showed a negative correlation between susceptibility value and MoCA score. CONCLUSION: There are different patterns of brain iron deposition in PD and HD patients. Abnormal brain iron deposition in PD patients may be associated with cognitive impairment.