Voxel-based morphometry analyses in Alzheimer´s disease

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease recognized as one of the most important medical problems affecting the elderly. It is characterized by an irreversible loss of neurons which is mostly pronounced in the grey matter and specifically in the hippocampus. The aim of this paper is to identify alterations in grey matter in MRI images of AD patients, when compared to those of healthy volunteers, using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM). The latter is a widely used statistical-based technique that allows the detection of alterations in brain tissue. In our study, we used VBM to detect significant grey matter alterations of the hippocampal region in AD patients, which is consistent with previous findings reported in the literature. We also examined how the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores relates to the volume differences detected by VBM¹.