A Study On Cognitive Changes And Brain MRI In The Alzheimer Disease

objective:To explore the characteristics of mild-moderate cognitive impairment of Alzheimer disease(AD) with neuropsy-chological objective and the characteristics of the brain structural measurement using Magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),and to study the correlations of cognitive assessment with the brain structural measurement in AD patients.Methods:There were 23 mild-moderate AD patients and 22 normal control in the study. neuropsychological objective were conducted the study, including Mini Mental State Exanination (MMSE), Activities of Daily Living Scale (ADL),Pfeffer's Outpatient Disability Questionnaire (POD),Fuld Object-Memory Evaluation (FOM),Rapid Verbal Retrieve (RVR),Digit Span (DS),Block Design(BD) .Volumetric measurements of hippocampal formations (HF),amygdala(AMY), linear measurements of width of the temporal horn, width of lateral were conducted the study with MRI.Results:(1)The score of MMSE, ADL, POD, FOM, RVR, BD , DS were significantly different between the patients of AD and the control subjects (p<0.01).In the AD group ,the score of MMSE was negatively correlated with ADL,POD,it was positively correlated with FOM, RVR,while it was not significantly correlated with BD, DS. (2) Both the volume of HF and width of the temporal horn,width of lateral showed significant differences between the patients of AD and the control subjects (p<0.01). but no obvious difference of AMY between the two sides. (3)The volume of HF and width of the temporal horn, width of lateral was found to correlate significantly with scores on MMSE,ADL, POD,FOM. The volume of HF and width of the temporal horn was found to correlate significantly with scores on RVR.but the volume of HF and width of the temporal horn,width oflateral were not significantly correlate with scores on DS,BD.Especially MMSE FOM were closely correlated with the volume of HF in the mild-moderate of AD.ConclusionrThe battery of cognitive assessment instrument was useful to evaluate the cognitive impairment of AD.The structural measurement using MRI was able to provide an imaging predictive marker for diagnosis of AD.The structural measurement using MRI was found to correlate significantly with cognitive assessment.