[ad_1]
Researchers identified quantifiable differences between older adults with Alzheimer's disease and those who did not use diffusion-weighted MRI.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the North American Radiology Society, found that brain MRI scans also performed better than the usual clinical tests to predict which people developed Alzheimer's disease.
"Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in the world and is expected to increase globally, and particularly in the United States, with the aging of the population", Cyrus A. Raji, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Washington in St. Louis, said in a press release. "As we develop new drug therapies and study them during clinical trials, we need to identify the people who will benefit from these drugs earlier during the course of the disease."
In their study, Raji and his colleagues calculated differences in imaging diffusion tensor – which provides different measurements of white matter integrity – of 61 elderly people enrolled in the neuroimaging study by Alzheimer's disease . They also extracted the values of fractional anisotropy, diffusivity, axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity.
According to the press release, about 50% of patients developed Alzheimer's disease and diffusion tensor imaging detected differences between these patients and those who did not develop the disease. Older adults who developed Alzheimer's disease had lower fractional anisotropy than others, which could indicate white matter damage, as well as statistically significant decreases in some white-front tracts, the statement said. .
The use of fractional anisotropy values and other overall measures associated with the integrity of the white matter allowed to obtain 89% accuracy in predicting who would develop the disease of Alzheimer's, said Raji in his statement. Comparatively, the mini-mental state examination and APOE4 genetic tests have accuracy rates of about 70%, he added.
In addition, after further analysis of the white matter regions in approximately 40 study participants, Raji and colleagues found that diffusion tensor imaging achieved 95% accuracy.
"[Diffusion tensor imaging] very well compared to other clinical measures. Research shows that the risk of Alzheimer's disease can be reduced by tackling modifiable risk factors such as obesity and diabetes, Raji said in a statement. – by Savannah Demko
References:
Raji CA, et al. Spatial track-based statistics in people who will develop Alzheimer's dementia: A study of the Neuroimaging Initiative of Alzheimer's Disease (ADNI). Presented at: 104th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the 2018 North American Radiological Society; November 25-30, 2018; Chicago.
Disclosure: Psychiatry Health has not been able to confirm the relevant financial information at the time of publication.
[ad_2]
Source link
