The purpose of this study is to determine whether the magnetic resonance image will differentiate healthy brain from those with Alzheimer's Disease. The study will compare brain images from 15 patients diagnosed as Dementia Alzheimer's Type (DSM III) and Probable Alzheimer's to those of a group of age and sex matched healthy controls. The brain slices to be imaged will allow examination of portions of gray and white matter in samples of the frontal, posterior-frontal/anterior-parietal, parietal, temporal and occipital lobes, as well as the caudate and thalamus. The coronal slice will allow examination of the diencephalic structures and the temporal lobe. A second objective is to determine which slices are the most useful in detecting differences between the two groups. In addition, the images for the control subjects will be compared to a group of younger healthy controls (subjects in a schizophrenic study at this Institute) to detect differences attributable to normal imaging.
| Austrom, M G; Thompson Jr, R F; Hendrie, H C et al. (1990) Foci of increased T2 signal intensity in MR images of healthy elderly subjects. A follow-up study. J Am Geriatr Soc 38:1133-8 |
