Predicting conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease using brain 1H-MRS and volumetric changes: A two- year retrospective follow-up study

This study investigated the ability of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and brain volumetry to predict the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's Disease (AD) on the basis of clinical classification at 2 years follow-up. Thirty-eight MCI patients, eighteen healthy older adults and twenty-three AD patients were included in this study. All participants underwent a brain-MR protocol (1.5 T GE scanner) including high-resolution T1-weighted volumetric sequence (isotropic 1mm3). Voxel-wise differences in brain volumetry were evaluated using FreeSurfer software and all volumes were normalized by the total intracranial volume (TIV). Careful localization of 1H-MRS volume of PCC was performed and data were processed with the LCModel program. MCI patients underwent a complete neuropsychological assessment at baseline and were clinically re-evaluated after a mean of 28 months; twenty-six MCI patients (68.4%) converted to AD and twelve remained stable.At baseline these two MCI subgroups did not differ in the global cognitive level (Mini Mental State Examination, MMSE) or in any of the other cognitive domains; the NAA/ mI ratio in the PCC was able to differentiate MCI converters from those MCI that did not develop AD (p = 0.022) with a level of accuracy (AUC area) of 0.779. A significantly reduced volume of parahippocampal gyrus (p = 0.010) and fusiform gyrus (p = 0.026) were found in the converter MCI s...
Source: NeuroImage: Clinical - Category: Radiology Source Type: research