Neuroimaging in Dementia
Neuroimaging in Dementia
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REVIEWS
Neuroimaging in dementia:
a practical guide
Alex M Mortimer, Marcus Likeman, Timothy T Lewis
Functional imaging
In patients with suspected AD whose structural
imaging is equivocal, one option is to repeat and
compare the imaging after 12–24 months, looking for
focal atrophy. Alternatively, functional imaging can
help. The classical abnormality on 99mTc-HMPAO
SPECT and 18F-FDG PET imaging is temporoparietal
hypoperfusion and hypometabolism; this is usually
symmetrical, and with relative preservation of basal
ganglia and cerebellum (figure 7).22–24 With disease
progression, there may be frontal hypoperfusion/
Figure 1 Coronal CT reformat showing structural imaging
metabolism.23 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT imaging differ-
appearances in advanced Alzheimer’s disease with severe entiates AD patients from healthy controls with a
medial temporal atrophy (arrows) and ventricular enlargement. sensitivity of 89% and specificity 80%.25 Also,
99m
Tc-HMPAO SPECT can distinguish AD from other
Figure 2 Coronal T1-weighted image showing important medial temporal structures in Alzheimer’s disease. (A) temporal horn; (B)
choroidal fissure; (C) hippocampus; (D) parahippocampal gyrus.
Figure 3 Axial CT image orientated parallel to the temporal lobes demonstrating linear measures of the medial temporal lobes. (A)
radial width of the temporal horn (using 8 mm as a cut off, an initial publication10 suggested high sensitivity and specificity of ~92%
but this has subsequently been questioned11) (B) minimum thickness of the temporal lobe (a threshold value for Alzheimer’s disease
of >5.3 mm gives a sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 97%11).
Figure 4 Scheltens’ scale of medial temporal atrophy. Scores 0–4 indicate progressive medial temporal volume loss. Medial
temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) is assessed using a 5-point scale from 0–4, with scores deduced through assessment of the
hippocampal height and width of the choroid fissure and temporal horn. For subjects younger than 75 years, a MTA score of 2 or
more is abnormal, while for subjects older than 75 years, a MTA score of 3 or more is abnormal (table 1).
Table 1 Scheltens’ medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) score dementias, such as frontotemporal lobar degeneration
(N=normal) and vascular dementia, with a sensitivity and specifi-
Height of city of 70–79%.26
Width of Width of hippocampal
Score choroid fissure temporal horn formation Vascular changes in AD
0 N N N AD patients have more white matter disease than con-
1 ↑ N N trols.27 28 However, it is unclear whether the white
2 ↑↑ ↑ ↓ matter T2-hyperintensity of AD reflect a secondary
3 ↑↑↑ ↑↑ ↓↓ pathological process, relate to cerebral amyloid angio-
4 ↑↑↑ ↑↑↑ ↓↓↓ pathy or represent coexisting vascular pathology from
Please also refer to figure 4.
hypertension, smoking and diabetes mellitus.
Figure 5 Sagittal, coronal and axial images demonstrating parietal atrophy. White arrowheads indicate widening of the posterior
cingulate sulcus. Black arrowheads indicate parieto-occipital sulcal widening. Solid arrows indicate lateral parietal sulcal widening.
Figure 6 Posterior cortical atrophy. T1-weighted axial and sagittal MRI (left and centre) plus FLAIR coronal image (right)
demonstrating severe parieto-occipital atrophy. Contrary to typical Alzheimer’s disease, patients with posterior cortical atrophy have
well preserved memory and language but show a rapid and relatively selective decline in vision and/or literacy skills.
FRONTOTEMPORAL LOBAR DEGENERATION below the age of 65 years,33 and can be categorised
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration is a heterogeneous into behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and
group of clinicoanatomical subtypes with various primary progressive aphasia. Primary progressive
underlying pathologies. These include tau and ubiqui- aphasia is itself divided into three subtypes, non-fluent
tin inclusions, ‘fused in sarcoma’ pathology, ‘dementia progressive aphasia, semantic dementia and logopenic
lacking distinctive histology’ and even AD-type path- progressive aphasia.
ology.32 This group of conditions is as common as AD
Figure 9 Structural imaging in behavioural variant frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Axial and coronal CT images demonstrating
marked frontal atrophy along with asymmetrical medial temporal atrophy, most marked on the left.
Semantic dementia
Table 3 Structural changes in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus This is marked by bilateral atrophy in the medial and
‘behavioural variant’ frontotemporal lobar degeneration, modified lateral portions of the anterior temporal lobes, includ-
from Frisconi36 ing amygdala/anterior hippocampus, anterior inferior,
and middle and superior temporal gyri and the anter-
Frontotemporal
AD lobar degeneration ior fusiform gyri. The atrophy is commonly asymmet-
rical and maximal on the left but with progressive
Frontal lobes +− +++
changes on the right also. Again, there is an anterior
Frontal horns of lateral +− ++++
ventricles
to posterior gradient34 38 (figure 13). 18F-FDG PET
and 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT in semantic dementia
Temporal horns of lateral + +++
ventricles shows prominent anterior temporal hypometabolism
Amygdala +++ ++++ or perfusion, left greater than right.40–42 (figure 14).
Entorhinal cortex ++ +
Hippocampus +++ + Logopenic progressive aphasia
This is atrophy involving the posterior temporal
cortex and inferior parietal lobule. There may also be
Figure 10 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT abnormalities in behavioural variant frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Source images (A), and
statistical parametric mapping (B) glass brain and (C) surface rendered representations showing a predominant pattern of bifrontal
hypoperfusion.
Figure 11 Structural imaging changes in non-fluent progressive aphasia. Coronal and axial CT images demonstrating left-sided
peri-insular volume loss.
Figure 13 Structural imaging in semantic dementia. Axial and coronal CT images show asymmetrical medial temporal atrophy,
maximal on the left, with associated anterolateral atrophy as well. A coronal FLAIR MRI in another (semantic dementia) patient (right)
shows similar structural changes.
Table 4 International Workshop of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the Association
Internationale pour la Recherche et l’Enseignement en Neurosciences (AIREN) reported diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of vascular
dementia for research studies
Topography
Large-vessel stroke Large-vessel stroke is an infarction defined as a parenchymal defect in an arterial territory involving the
cortical grey matter
Anterior cerebral artery Only bilateral anterior cerebral artery infarctions are sufficient to meet the NINDS-AIREN criteria
Posterior cerebral artery Infarcts in the posterior cerebral artery territory can be included only when they involve the following
regions.
Paramedian thalamic infarction: the infarct includes the cortical grey matter of the temporal/occipital lobe
and extends into the paramedian part (defined as extending to the third ventricle) of the thalamus; the
extension may be limited to the gliotic rim of the infarct that surrounds the parenchymal defect
Inferior medial temporal lobe lesions
Middle cerebral artery Middle cerebral artery infarction needs to involve the following regions:
Parietotemporal: the infarct involves both the parietal and temporal lobe (eg, angular gyrus)
Temporo-occipital: the infarct involves both the temporal and occipital lobe
Border zones A watershed infarction is defined as an infarction in the border zone between the middle and posterior
cerebral arteries or the middle and anterior cerebral arteries in the following regions:
Superior frontal region
Parietal region
Small-vessel disease Ischaemic pathology resulting from occlusion of small perforating arteries may manifest itself as lacunes
or white matter lesions. A lacune is a lesion with CSF-like intensity on all sequences on MRI (water
density on CT) surrounded by white matter or subcortical grey matter >2 mm. Care should be taken not
to include Virchow–Robin spaces, which typically occur at the vertex and around the anterior commissure
near the substantia perforata. Ischaemic white matter lesions circumscribed abnormalities with high signal
on T2-weighted images not following CSF signal (mildly hypodense compared with surrounding tissue on
CT) with a minimum diameter of 2 mm
Multiple basal ganglia and frontal white matter lacunes—criteria are met when there are at least 2
lacunes in the basal ganglia region (including thalamus and internal capsule) and at least 2 lacunes in
the frontal white matter
Extensive periventricular white matter lesions—lesions in the white matter abutting the ventricles and
extending irregularly into the deep white matter, or deep/subcortical white matter lesions. Smooth caps
and bands by themselves are not sufficient. Gliotic areas surrounding large-vessel strokes should not be
included here
Bilateral thalamic lesions—to meet the criteria, at least 1 lesion in each thalamus should be present
Continued
Table 4 Continued
Topography
Severity
Large-vessel disease Large-vessel disease of the dominant hemisphere—if there is a large-vessel infarction as defined above,
to meet the criteria it has to be in the dominant hemisphere. In the absence of clinical information, the
left hemisphere is considered dominant
Bilateral large-vessel hemispheric strokes—1 of the infarctions should involve an area listed under
topography but is in the non-dominant hemisphere, while the infarction in the dominant hemisphere
does not meet the topography criteria
Small-vessel disease Leukoencephalopathy involving at least ¼ of the total white matter—extensive white matter lesions are
considered to involve ¼ of the total white matter when they are confluent (grade 3 in the Fazekas scale)
in at least 2 regions of the Fazekas scale and beginning confluent (grade 2 in the Fazekas scale) in 2
other regions. A lesion is considered confluent when >20 mm or consists of ≥2 smaller lesions fused by
more than a connecting bridge
Fulfilment of radiological criteria for Large-vessel disease—both the topography and severity criteria should be met (a lesion must be scored
probable vascular dementia in at least 1 subsection of both topography and severity)
Small-vessel disease—for white matter lesions, both the topography and severity criteria should be met
(a lesion must be scored in at least 1 subsection of both topography and severity); for multiple lacunes
and bilateral thalamic lesions, only the topography criterion is sufficient
Strategic infarction locations include the left angular gyrus, inferomesial temporal and mesial frontal locations, thalami, left capsular genu, and caudate
nuclei.
Figure 17 Cortical atrophy scale devised by Pasquier and colleagues. Scores 0–3 represent absent, mild, moderate and severe
cortical atrophy respectively. Mild changes are said to be present when there is sulcal opening peripherally. Moderate changes are
seen when there is widening along the length of the sulcus. Severe atrophy is present when there is gyral thinning.
Figure 18 Dopamine transporter scan demonstrating normal configuration of basal ganglia uptake (left) and that seen in a patient
with dementia with Lewy bodies (right).
Table 5 A summary of the principal findings encountered in the four most common dementias
Behavioural variant
frontotemporal lobar Primary progressive Dementia with Lewy
Condition Alzheimer’s disease degeneration aphasia Vascular dementia bodies
Structural Medial temporal lobe Frontal and anterior Semantic dementia: Left Cortical and/or Lacunar Global volume loss
imaging atrophy temporal atrophy anterior, inferior and lateral infarctions
Parietal atrophy Medial temporal lobe temporal atrophy Deep and periventricular
Ventriculomegaly atrophy Non-fluent progressive white matter CT
Global volume loss Often asymmetry aphasia: Perisylvian atrophy hypodensity/T2
Logopenic progressive hyperintensity
aphasia: Perisylvian atrophy Global volume loss
Mild medial temporal
lobe atrophy
Functional Temporoparietal Frontal and temporal Semantic dementia: Left Non-specific patterns of Occipital hypoperfusion
imaging hypoperfusion or hypoperfusion or anterior temporal hypoperfusion Reduction in basal
hypometabolism hypometabolism hypoperfusion ganglia uptake with
Non-fluent progressive dopamine transporter
aphasia: left forntal, scan
periinsular hypoperfusion or
hypometabolism
Logopenic progressive
aphasia: Left temporoparietal
hypoperfusion
Contributors All coauthors contributed to the medial temporal lobe atrophy by computed tomography.
compilation and editing of the paper. Lancet 1992;340:1179–83.
11 Frisoni GB, Beltramello A, Weiss C, et al. Linear measures of
Competing interests None.
atrophy in mild Alzheimer disease. Am J Neuroradiol
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally 1996;17:913–23.
peer reviewed. This paper was reviewed by Ian 12 Scheltens P, Leys D, Barkhof F, et al. Atrophy of medial
Turnbull, Bangor, UK. temporal lobes on MRI in ‘probable’ Alzheimer’s
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These include:
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Notes