Background With an aggravated social ageing level, the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is gradually increasing, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered to be an early form of Alzheimer&#...Background With an aggravated social ageing level, the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is gradually increasing, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered to be an early form of Alzheimer's disease. How to distinguish diseases in the early stage for the purposes of early diagnosis and treatment is an important topic. Aims The purpose of our study was to investigate the differences in brain cortical thickness and surface area among elderly patients with AD, elderly patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and normal controls (NC). Methods 20 AD patients, 21 aMCIs and 25 NC were recruited in the study. FreeSurfer software was used to calculate cortical thickness and surface area among groups. Results The patients with AD had less cortical thickness both in the left and right hemisphere in 17 of the 36 brain regions examined than the patients with aMCI or NC. The patients with AD also had smaller cerebral surface area both in the left and right hemisphere in 3 of the 36 brain regions examined than the patients with aMCI or NC. Compared with the NC, the patients with aMCI only had slight atrophy in the inferior parietal lobe of the left hemisphere, and no significant difference was found. Conclusion AD, as well as aMCI (to a lesser extent), is associated with reduced cortical thickness and surface area in a few brain regions associated with cognitive impairment. These results suggest that cortical thickness and surface area could be used for early detection of AD.展开更多
基金Collaborative Innovation Center for Translational Medicine at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine TM201728National Nature Science Foundation of China 81571298+2 种基金Shanghai health system excellent talent training program (excellent subject leader) project 2017BR054Shanghai Municipal Education Commission-Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant Support 20172029Shanghai Pujiang Program 17PJD038.
文摘Background With an aggravated social ageing level, the number of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is gradually increasing, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered to be an early form of Alzheimer's disease. How to distinguish diseases in the early stage for the purposes of early diagnosis and treatment is an important topic. Aims The purpose of our study was to investigate the differences in brain cortical thickness and surface area among elderly patients with AD, elderly patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and normal controls (NC). Methods 20 AD patients, 21 aMCIs and 25 NC were recruited in the study. FreeSurfer software was used to calculate cortical thickness and surface area among groups. Results The patients with AD had less cortical thickness both in the left and right hemisphere in 17 of the 36 brain regions examined than the patients with aMCI or NC. The patients with AD also had smaller cerebral surface area both in the left and right hemisphere in 3 of the 36 brain regions examined than the patients with aMCI or NC. Compared with the NC, the patients with aMCI only had slight atrophy in the inferior parietal lobe of the left hemisphere, and no significant difference was found. Conclusion AD, as well as aMCI (to a lesser extent), is associated with reduced cortical thickness and surface area in a few brain regions associated with cognitive impairment. These results suggest that cortical thickness and surface area could be used for early detection of AD.
