Neurostatistical imaging for diagnosing dementia: translational approach from laboratory neuroscience to clinical routine

Abstract

Statistical analysis in neuroimaging (referred to as “neurostatistical imaging”) is important in clinical neurology. Here, neurostatistical imaging and its superiority for diagnosing dementia are reviewed. In neurodegenerative dementia, the proportional distribution of brain perfusion, metabolism, or atrophy is important for understanding the symptoms and status of patients and for identifying regions of pathological damage. Although absolute quantitative changes are important in vascular disease, they are less important than relative values in neurodegenerative dementia. Even under resting conditions in healthy individuals, the distribution of brain perfusion and metabolism is asymmetrical and differs among areas. To detect small changes, statistical analysis such as the Z-score — the number of standard deviations by which a patient’s voxel value differs from the normal mean value — comparing normal controls is useful and also facilitates clinical assessment. Our recent finding of a longitudinal one-year reduction of glucose metabolism around the olfactory tract in Alzheimer’s disease using the recently-developed DARTEL normalization procedure is also presented. Furthermore, a newly-developed procedure to assess brain atrophy with CT-based voxel-based morphometry is illustrated. The promising possibilities of CT in neurostatistical imaging are also presented.