The correlation of cognitive decline with frontotemporal dementia induced annualized gray matter loss using diffeomorphic morphometry

Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2005 Oct-Dec:19 Suppl 1:S25-8. doi: 10.1097/01.wad.0000183083.14939.82.

Abstract

This study uses large deformation medical image registration to analyze, in a disease-specific normalized space, the annual rate of gray matter atrophy caused by frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and its correlation with cognitive decline. The analysis consists of three parts. First, a labeled structural MRI atlas is deformed into the shape of an average FTD brain. Second, annualized FTD-related atrophy of gray matter structures is estimated for each patient in the database. Third, the group-wise annualized atrophy rate caused by FTD is correlated, for each gray matter voxel, with declining performance on cognitive tests. This study gives insight into the relationship between FTD-related progressive cortical atrophy and loss in cognitive function.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Atrophy / pathology
  • Atrophy / psychology
  • Cerebral Cortex / pathology*
  • Cognition Disorders / etiology*
  • Cognition Disorders / pathology
  • Disease Progression
  • Humans
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Middle Aged
  • Pick Disease of the Brain / pathology*
  • Pick Disease of the Brain / psychology*