Cortical Thickness Measured by Imaging May Predict Alzheimer's

Cortical shrinkage as measured by magnetic resonance imaging may predict risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, according to a report in the December 13 Neurology. In the study, 19 people who had the most shrinkage in those regions were rated as being at high risk for Alzheimer’s. Another 116 were rated as at average risk, and 24 more were rated as at low risk based on their brain measurements, according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania.

After three years, about 21 percent of people in the high-risk group were the most likely to have deficits in the way they learned and remembered words and solved problems, compared with 7 percent of those in the average-risk group, and none in the low-risk group.

Read more about how brain imaging can help predict risk of Alzheimer’s disease in Psychiatric News.

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