DEMENTIA DUE TO ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND BRAIN MORPHOMETRIC ALTERATIONS

Introduction: Dementia due Alzheimer’s disease (DAD) is a primary and progressive neurodegenerative disorder. There are atrophy in hippocampus and other basal areas. This work evaluated the brain morphometry of DAD patients in all disease stages, aiming at identifying the structural neuro-degeneration profile in every phase. Methods: DAD patients above 60 years old (n=44) and age paired controls (n=16) were recruited. The brain images acquired in Achieva 3T magnetic resonance tomograph. Volumetric quantitative data and cortical thickness measurements were obtained by automatic segmentation using Freesurfer®. The volume of each region was normalized considering whole brain volume. Results: Brain regions targeted by the disease during the initial stages were found to be altered until in the later stages of the dementia. No correlation was observed between brain cortical volume or thickness, age and years of education. We found an association between cortical volume or thickness and cognitive indexes Mini Mental State Examination (R 2