Neuroimaging and Dementia

Detection of selective atrophy in the course of the disease with structural MRI helps the clinician in the diagnosis of dementia, and studies using voxel-based volume analysis, cortical thickness measurements, and tractography analyzes have shown that structural changes in AD are detectable even in the presymptomatic period. Both positron emission tomography (PET) studies using specific radio ligands and postmortem pathologic studies showed that amyloid deposition, the earliest pathological accumulation in the course of the disease, starts from the brain areas which are part of default mode network. [...]neuroimaging is used as a powerful diagnostic tool in AD, but more importantly it gives valuable information about disease processes.