Neuroimaging in Dementia

Functional brain imaging is gaining increasing importance as the diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease (AD), as the most common cause of dementia, is moving to very early clinical stages. First symptomatic manifestation of AD can be the reported subjective decline in memory capacity. A number of brain imaging studies in this population have been performed over the last years in Bonn. The studies revealed very mild atrophy and hypometabolism in brain regions that are affected earliest in AD. These imaging patterns are also associated with memory decline in individuals with subjective memory impairment. In addition functional MRI revealed evidence for neuronal compensation in these individuals.