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Anatomical heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease: based on cortical thickness on MRIs.

ABSTRACT: Because the signs associated with dementia due to Alzheimer disease (AD) can be heterogeneous, the goal of this study was to use 3-dimensional MRI to examine the various patterns of cortical atrophy that can be associated with dementia of AD type, and to investigate whether AD dementia can be categorized into anatomical subtypes.High-resolution T1-weighted volumetric MRIs were taken of 152 patients in their earlier stages of AD dementia. The images were processed to measure cortical thickness, and hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis was performed using Ward's clustering linkage. The identified clusters of patients were compared with an age- and sex-matched control group using a general linear model.There were several distinct patterns of cortical atrophy and the number of patterns varied according to the level of cluster analyses. At the 3-cluster level, patients were divided into (1) bilateral medial temporal-dominant atrophy subtype (n = 52, ? 34.2%), (2) parietal-dominant subtype (n = 28, ? 18.4%) in which the bilateral parietal lobes, the precuneus, along with bilateral dorsolateral frontal lobes, were atrophic, and (3) diffuse atrophy subtype (n = 72, ? 47.4%) in which nearly all association cortices revealed atrophy. These 3 subtypes also differed in their demographic and clinical features.This cluster analysis of cortical thickness of the entire brain showed that AD dementia in the earlier stages can be categorized into various anatomical subtypes, with distinct clinical features.

SUBMITTER: Noh Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4248459 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Anatomical heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease: based on cortical thickness on MRIs.

Noh Young Y Jeon Seun S Lee Jong Min JM Seo Sang Won SW Kim Geon Ha GH Cho Hanna H Ye Byoung Seok BS Yoon Cindy W CW Kim Hee Jin HJ Chin Juhee J Park Kee Hyung KH Heilman Kenneth M KM Na Duk L DL

Neurology 20141024 21

<h4>Objective</h4>Because the signs associated with dementia due to Alzheimer disease (AD) can be heterogeneous, the goal of this study was to use 3-dimensional MRI to examine the various patterns of cortical atrophy that can be associated with dementia of AD type, and to investigate whether AD dementia can be categorized into anatomical subtypes.<h4>Methods</h4>High-resolution T1-weighted volumetric MRIs were taken of 152 patients in their earlier stages of AD dementia. The images were processe ...[more]

PMID: 25344382

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Project description:ObjectiveTo examine the cross-sectional associations between regional tau, β-amyloid (Aβ), and cortical thickness and neuropsychological function across the preclinical and clinical spectrum of Alzheimer disease (AD).MethodsWe included 106 participants from the Swedish Biomarkers for Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably (BioFINDER) study, of whom 33 had preclinical AD (Aβ-positive cognitively normal individuals), 25 had prodromal AD (Aβ-positive mild cognitive impairment), and 48 had probable AD dementia. All underwent [18F]flortaucipir (tau) and structural MRI (cortical thickness), and 88 of 106 underwent [18F]flutemetamol (Aβ) PET. Linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education were performed to examine associations between 7 regions of interest and 7 neuropsychological tests for all 3 imaging modalities.ResultsIn preclinical AD, [18F]flortaucipir, but not [18F]flutemetamol or cortical thickness, was associated with decreased global cognition, memory, and processing speed (range standardized β = 0.35-0.52, p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). In the combined prodromal AD and AD dementia group, both increased [18F]flortaucipir uptake and reduced cortical thickness were associated with worse performance on a variety of neuropsychological tests (most regions of interest survived correction for multiple comparisons at p < 0.05), while increased [18F]flutemetamol uptake was specifically associated with lower scores on a delayed recall memory task (p < 0.05 uncorrected for multiple comparisons). The strongest effects for both [18F]flortaucipir and cortical thickness on cognition were found in the lateral and medial parietal cortex and lateral temporal cortex. The effect of [18F]flutemetamol on cognition was generally weaker and less region specific.ConclusionOur findings suggest that tau PET is more sensitive than Aβ PET and measures of cortical thickness for detecting early cognitive changes in preclinical AD. Furthermore, both [18F]flortaucipir PET and cortical thickness show strong cognitive correlates at the clinical stages of AD.

Project description:BackgroundWe previously found temporoparietal-predominant atrophy patterns in the behavioral variant of Alzheimer's disease (bvAD), with relative sparing of frontal regions. Here, we aimed to understand the clinico-anatomical dissociation in bvAD based on alternative neuroimaging markers.MethodsWe retrospectively included 150 participants, including 29 bvAD, 28 "typical" amnestic-predominant AD (tAD), 28 behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), and 65 cognitively normal participants. Patients with bvAD were compared with other diagnostic groups on glucose metabolism and metabolic connectivity measured by [18F]FDG-PET, and on subcortical gray matter and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes measured by MRI. A receiver-operating-characteristic-analysis was performed to determine the neuroimaging measures with highest diagnostic accuracy.ResultsbvAD and tAD showed predominant temporoparietal hypometabolism compared to controls, and did not differ in direct contrasts. However, overlaying statistical maps from contrasts between patients and controls revealed broader frontoinsular hypometabolism in bvAD than tAD, partially overlapping with bvFTD. bvAD showed greater anterior default mode network (DMN) involvement than tAD, mimicking bvFTD, and reduced connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex with prefrontal regions. Analyses of WMH and subcortical volume showed closer resemblance of bvAD to tAD than to bvFTD, and larger amygdalar volumes in bvAD than tAD respectively. The top-3 discriminators for bvAD vs. bvFTD were FDG posterior-DMN-ratios (bvAD<bvFTD), MRI posterior-DMN-ratios (bvAD<bvFTD), MRI salience-network-ratios (bvAD>bvFTD, area under the curve [AUC] range 0.85-0.91, all p < 0.001). The top-3 for bvAD vs. tAD were amygdalar volume (bvAD>tAD), MRI anterior-DMN-ratios (bvAD<tAD), FDG anterior-DMN-ratios (bvAD<tAD, AUC range 0.71-0.84, all p < 0.05).ConclusionsSubtle frontoinsular hypometabolism and anterior DMN involvement may underlie the prominent behavioral phenotype in bvAD.

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Anatomical heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease: based on cortical thickness on MRIs.

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Anatomical heterogeneity of Alzheimer disease: based on cortical thickness on MRIs.

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