J Korean Geriatr Psychiatry.  2008 Jun;12(1):11-16.

Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease Using Neuroimaging: Focus on Recent MRI and PET Studies

• Choo IH

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Because any antidementia treatment is not likely to reverse existing neuronal damage but rather to slow disease progression, early diagnosis is an important approach to identifying candidates for antidementia drug applications before the dementing process causes permanent brain damage. Neuroimaging could be the best alternative to pathologic confirmation of AD with biopsy that is invasive to subjects or post-mortem evaluation. In this manuscript, author summarized recent studies for early diagnosis of AD using neuroimaging techniques that have relatively high spatial resolution of regional volumetry using three dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), Diffusion tensor imaging, and PET imaging of Alzheimer pathology with ligand. Moreover, author comments the future direction for early diagnosis of AD using neuroimaging.

Keyword

Alzheimer's disease; Early diagnosis; Neuroimaging

MeSH Terms

Alzheimer Disease
Biopsy
Brain
Dementia
Diffusion Tensor Imaging
Disease Progression
Early Diagnosis
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Neuroimaging
Neurons
Positron-Emission Tomography