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Using Structural and Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging To Differentiate the Dementias

  • Neuroimaging (DJ Brooks, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Dementia is one of the major causes of personal, societal and financial dependence in older people and in today’s ageing society there is a pressing need for early and accurate markers of cognitive decline. There are several subtypes of dementia but the four most common are Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia. These disorders can only be diagnosed at autopsy, and ante-mortem assessments of “probable dementia (e.g. of Alzheimer type)” are traditionally driven by clinical symptoms of cognitive or behavioural deficits. However, owing to the overlapping nature of symptoms and age of onset, a significant proportion of dementia cases remain incorrectly diagnosed. Misdiagnosis can have an extensive impact, both at the level of the individual, who may not be offered the appropriate treatment, and on a wider scale, by influencing the entry of patients into relevant clinical trials. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help to improve diagnosis by providing non-invasive and detailed disease-specific markers of cognitive decline. MRI-derived measurements of grey and white matter structural integrity are potential surrogate markers of disease progression, and may also provide valuable diagnostic information. This review summarises the latest evidence on the use of structural and diffusion MRI in differentiating between the four major dementia subtypes.

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Acknowledgments

Sana Suri is funded by a University of Oxford Clarendon Scholarship. Anya Topiwala is funded by the UK Medical Research Council (G1001354, principal investigator Klaus P. Ebmeier). Clare E. Mackay is funded by the National Institute for Health Research, UK, as part of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre. Nicola Filippini is funded by a grant from the HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust (principal investigator Klaus P. Ebmeier).

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Conflict of Interest

Sana Suri, Anya Topiwala, Clare E. Mackay, and Nicola Filippini declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Klaus P. Ebmeier has received paid travel expenses and honoraria from Eli Lily and consultation fees from Eli Lilly in connection with AmyvidTM.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Warneford Lane, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK

    Sana Suri, Anya Topiwala, Clare E. Mackay, Klaus P. Ebmeier & Nicola Filippini

  2. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    Sana Suri, Clare E. Mackay & Nicola Filippini

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  1. Sana Suri
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  2. Anya Topiwala
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Correspondence to Nicola Filippini.

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Suri, S., Topiwala, A., Mackay, C.E. et al. Using Structural and Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging To Differentiate the Dementias. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 14, 475 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-014-0475-3

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