Huali Wang1,2, Ke Nie1, Malcolm B. Dick3, Mark Mandelkern1, Orhan Nalcioglu1, Min-Ying Lydia Su1
1Tu & Yuen Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA; 2Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Peking University Institute of Mental Health, Beijing, China; 3Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
MRI and SPECT scans were performed on 13 MCI and 12 NC. Of the MCI patients, 10 were followed for up to three years and 4 subsequently converted to AD. The results demonstrated that volume reductions and hypoperfusion were mainly confined to the medial temporal lobe of MCI patients and associated with worse scores on tests of recent memory. The 4 MCI-AD converters had relatively low structural volume and perfusion in the medial temporal lobe compared to their stable peers, supporting that imaging measures should be included as diagnostic criteria to identify patients who have prodromal or preclinical AD.