Alzheimer's Disease Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alzheimer's Disease, including details on diagnosis, memory loss, heredity, treatment, medication.

Detection of prodromal Alzheimer's disease via pattern classification of magnetic resonance imaging.

Davatzikos C, Fan Y, Wu X, Shen D, Resnick SM

Section of Biomedical Image Analysis, Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. christos@rad.upenn.edu

We report evidence that computer-based high-dimensional pattern classification of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detects patterns of brain structure characterizing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a prodromal phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Ninety percent diagnostic accuracy was achieved, using cross-validation, for 30 participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Retrospective evaluation of serial scans obtained during prior years revealed gradual increases in structural abnormality for the MCI group, often before clinical symptoms, but slower increase for individuals remaining cognitively normal. Detecting complex patterns of brain abnormality in very early stages of cognitive impairment has pivotal importance for the detection and management of AD.

Published 7 March 2008 in Neurobiol Aging, 29(4): 514-23.
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