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Structural Neuroimaging in Alzheimer’s Disease

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Neuroimaging Diagnosis for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias

Abstract

MRI-based evaluation of brain atrophy is regarded as a valid method to assess the disease state and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As an auxiliary measure for visual inspection, manual volumetry has been historically performed for the detection of hippocampal atrophy, which is one of the core biomarkers in AD. Recently freely available volumetric software such as FreeSurfer has made it possible to quantify gray matter in the human brain in a more automated fashion. However these tools cannot be used routinely, since they are time-consuming, requiring more than several hours. At present, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is easily applicable to the routine clinical procedure with a much shorter execution time of several minutes. The importance of the VBM approach is that it is not biased to one particular structure and facilitates an even-handed and comprehensive assessment of anatomical differences throughout the brain. Stand-alone VBM software running on Windows, voxel-based specific regional analysis system for AD (VSRAD), has been widely used in the clinical practice of AD diagnosis in Japan. A VBM technique may be also feasible using X-ray CT data with more homogeneity and less distortion than MRI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawahigashi-cho, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8551, Japan

    Hiroshi Matsuda & Etsuko Imabayashi

Authors
  1. Hiroshi Matsuda
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  2. Etsuko Imabayashi
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Matsuda .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Integrative Brain Imaging Center, National Center of Neurology & Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo, Japan

    Hiroshi Matsuda

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takashi Asada

  3. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo, Japan

    Aya Midori Tokumaru

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Matsuda, H., Imabayashi, E. (2017). Structural Neuroimaging in Alzheimer’s Disease. In: Matsuda, H., Asada, T., Tokumaru, A. (eds) Neuroimaging Diagnosis for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55133-1_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55133-1_3

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