Diffusion tension imaging is a good tool for assessing patients with dementia and behavioral problems and discriminating them from other dementia patients

BACKGROUND: Dementia is one of the leading public health concerns as the world’s population ages. Although Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common dementia diagnosis among older patients, some patients have additional behavioral symptoms. It is therefore important to provide an exact diagnosis, both to provide the best possible treatment for patients and to facilitate better understanding. PURPOSE: To investigate whether magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with fractional anisotropy (FA) can accurately find patients with behavioral symptoms within a group of AD patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-five patients from the geriatric outpatient clinic were recruited consecutively to form a group of patients with AD and behavioral symptoms (AD + BS) and a control group of 50 patients with established AD. All patients had a full assessment for dementia to establish the diagnosis according to ICD-10. MRI included 3D anatomical recordings for morphometric measurements, DTI for fiber tracking, and quantitative assessment of regional white matter integrity. The DTI analyses included computing of the diffusion tensor and its derived FA index. RESULTS: We found a significant difference in FA values between the patient groups’ frontal lobes. The FA was greater in the study group in both left (0.39 vs 0.09, p < 0.05) and right (0.40 vs 0.16, p < 0.05) frontal lobes. CONCLUSION: MRI with FA will find damage in frontal tracts and may be used as a diagnostic tool and be considered a robust tool for the recognizing different types of dementia in the future.