Background and Objective: Subjective memory impairment (SMI) is a preclinical stage prior to amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) along with the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) continuum. We hypothesized that SMI patients had white matter (WM) network disruptions similar to those in aMCI patients.

Methods: We used diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging and graph theory to construct, analyze, and compare the WM networks among 20 normal controls (NC), 20 SMI patients, and 20 aMCI patients.

Results: Compared with the NC group, the SMI group had significantly decreased global and local efficiency and an increased shortest path length. Moreover, similar to the aMCI group, the SMI group had lower nodal efficiency in regions located in the frontal and parietal lobes, limbic systems, and caudate nucleus compared to that of the NC group.

Conclusion: Similar to aMCI patient, SMI patients exhibited WM network disruptions, and detection of these disruptions could facilitate the early detection of SMI.

背景和目的：主观记忆障碍（SMI）是遗忘性轻度认知障碍（aMCI）以及阿尔茨海默病（AD）连续体之前的临床前阶段。我们假设 SMI 患者的白质 (WM) 网络中断与 aMCI 患者类似。

方法：我们使用扩散张量磁共振成像和图论来构建、分析和比较 20 名正常对照 (NC)、20 名 SMI 患者和 20 名 aMCI 患者的 WM 网络。

结果：与NC组相比，SMI组全局和局部效率显着下降，最短路径长度增加。此外，与aMCI组类似，与NC组相比，SMI组位于额叶和顶叶、边缘系统和尾状核区域的节点效率较低。

结论：与 aMCI 患者类似，SMI 患者也表现出 WM 网络中断，检测这些中断有助于早期发现 SMI。