Using Voxel-Based Morphometry to Examine Atrophy-Behavior Correlates in Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia

摘要

Computational Morphometry With the advent of more sophisticated computer and medical imaging technology, computational morphometry of MRI images has become a standard tool in the statistical analysis of differences in brain structure between two groups of subjects. This comparative work represents an important advance in the diagnostic armamentarium for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), where no definitive diagnostic tests are available. This preliminary report describes morphometric analyses of MRI datasets of AD and FTD patients, and relates these to clinical measures. We will begin this paper by describing voxel based morphometry (VBM), a powerful, quantitative tool for analyzing structural brain images. We then describe our implementation of a fully automated, user-independent algorithm for morphometric analysis of structural MRI data.