In Vivo Mapping of Gray Matter Loss with Voxel-Based Morphometry in Mild Alzheimer's Disease

doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0848

NeuroImage

Volume 14, Issue 2, August 2001, Pages 298-309

https://doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0848 Get rights and content

Abstract

Uptill now, the study of regional gray matter atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been assessed with regions of interest, but this method is time-consuming, observer dependent, and poorly reproducible (especially in terms of cortical regions boundaries) and in addition is not suited to provide a comprehensive assessment of the brain. In this study, we have mapped gray matter density by means of voxel-based morphometry on T1-weighted MRI volume sets in 19 patients with mild AD and 16 healthy subjects of similar age and gender ratio and report highly significant clusters of gray matter loss with almost symmetrical distribution, affecting mainly and in decreasing order of significance the medial temporal structures, the posterior cingulate gyrus and adjacent precuneus, and the temporoparietal association and perisylvian neocortex, with only little atrophy in the frontal lobe. The findings are discussed in light of previous studies of gray matter atrophy in AD based either on postmortem or neuroimaging data and in relation to PET studies of resting glucose consumption. The limitations of the method are also discussed in some detail, especially with respect to the segmentation and spatial normalization procedures as they apply to pathological brains. Some potential applications of voxel-based morphometry in the study of AD are also mentioned.

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¹: To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed at Department of Neurology, Box 165, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ, UK. Fax: 44 1223 336941. E-mail: [email protected].

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Regular ArticleIn Vivo Mapping of Gray Matter Loss with Voxel-Based Morphometry in Mild Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

Neurobiol. Aging

Lancet

NeuroImage

Neurobiol. Aging

Lancet

Neurobiol. Aging

Neurosci. Lett.

Exp. Neurol.

Pattern of cortical lesions in Alzheimer's disease

The biochemical pathways of neurofibrillary degeneration in aging and Alzheimer's disease

Neurology

Structural neuroimaging: early diagnosis and staging of Alzheimer's disease

The neural substrates of memory systems in Alzheimer's disease: A PET study of resting brain glucose utilization

Brain

The progression of the lesions in Alzheimer's disease: Insights from a prospective clinicopathological study

J. Neural Trans.

Temporal lobe atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of early Alzheimer's disease

Arch. Neurol.

The functional neuroanatomy of amnesia: Positron emission tomography studies

Microsc. Res. Tech.

Selective cortical and hippocampal volume correlates of Mattis dementia rating scale in Alzheimer's disease

Arch. Neurol.

Atrophy of the hippocampus, parietal cortex, and insula in Alzheimer's disease: A volumetric magnetic resonance imaging study

Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol. Behav. Neurol.

Linear measures of atrophy in mild Alzheimer's disease

AJNR

Hippocampal and entorhinal cortex atrophy in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease

Neurology

Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach

Hum. Brain Map.

Detecting activations in PET and fMRI: Levels of inference and power

NeuroImage

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Acta Neuropathol.

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Arch. Neurol.

Regular Article
In Vivo Mapping of Gray Matter Loss with Voxel-Based Morphometry in Mild Alzheimer's Disease