Title: Evaluation of Brain Changes in Alzheimer disease Using MRI
Authors: Inaam Mohamed, Mohammed Yousef, Ahmed Abukonna
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v5i9.103
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifaceted disease in which cumulative pathological brain insults result in progressive cognitive decline that ultimately leads to dementia. The aim of this article was to evaluate the structural MRI changes in AD, focusing particularly on atrophy in typical late-onset of AD. Also to identify other promising biomarkers that can set structural loss in the broader context of functional changes at different stages of the disease.
The study was conducted in Sudan, 302 subjects were enrolled (200 Male and 102 female).All subjects underwent thorough clinical and cognitive assessments at the time of their MRI scans.MRI studies were performed on 1.5 Tesla Toshiba whole body MR systems using standard imaging head coil. Routine brain MRI was performed in 3 orthogonal planes, including at least T1, T2, and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) weighted images.
The result of the study revealed that age is the most important risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD) because it is independently linked to brain atrophy, the common affected age group (70 – 80) years, particularly more than 80 years. The generalized atrophy has been observed in 78.1% of the cases. Furthermore, ventricular enlargement was seen in 65% of the cases.
Structural MRI markers now support earlier and more-precise diagnosis and measurement of progression. The presences of atrophy as well as ventricular changes are a partially validated marker for early diagnosis of the disease.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, MRI, Brain Atrophy, Cerebral Ventricles.
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