Of course, we’re light years away from using MRIs as screens for the absolute detection of Alzheimer dementia, but it’s kinda cool to imagine the future as now.

Using special MRI methods, researchers have identified a pattern of regional brain atrophy in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) that indicates a greater likelihood of progression to Alzheimer’s disease. The findings are published in the online edition of Radiology. [...] 

MCI is seen as a unique syndrome in which the cognitive dysfunction clinically observed is not severe enough to cause significant problems with daily functioning, as is seen in Alzheimer dementia.

“Our results show that some individuals with MCI have the atrophy pattern characteristic of mild Alzheimer’s disease, and these people are at higher risk of experiencing a faster rate of brain degeneration and a faster decline to dementia than individuals with MCI who do not show that atrophy pattern.”   — said the study’s lead author, Linda K. McEvoy, Ph.D., assistant project scientist in the Department of Radiology at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine in La Jolla.

Comparing the atrophy of the cortex of the cerebrum within the confines of patients randomized to either syndrome is actually a novel method which may spur future research directions involving biomarkers and specific drug therapies whose actions may be serially documented by such imaging techniques. | LINK

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