Measurement of global drain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease with unsupervised segmentation of spin-echo MRI studies

In 16 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; NINDS criteria, age r ange 56-78 years), gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal f luid (CSF) absolute and fractional volumes were measured with an unsupervis ed multiparametric post-processing segmentation method based on estimates o f relaxation rates R1, R2 (R1 = 1/T1; R2 = 1/T2) and proton density [N(H)] from conventional spin-echo studies (Alfano et al, Magn, Reson. Med, 1997:3 7:84-93). Global brain atrophy, and GM and WM fractions significantly corre lated with Mini-Mental Status Examination and Blessed Dement;Ia Scale score s. Compared with normals, brain compartments in AD patients showed decrease d GM (-6.84 +/- 1.58%) and WNI fractions (-9.79 +/- 2.47%) and increased CS F fractions (+58.80 +/- 10.37%). Changes were more evident in early-onset A D patients. In AD, measurement of global brain atrophy obtained by a comput erized procedure based on routine magnetic resonance studies could compleme nt the information provided by neuropsychological tests for the assessment of disease severity. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.