ABSTRACT
Over the past 15 years there have been dramatic improvements in the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD). Two studies done between 1975 and 1979 demonstrated that 30%-50% of patients diagnosed with AD were ultimately discovered to have a different illness. This chapter evaluates the applications and limitations of Computerized axial tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of AD. It describes the use of CT and MRI to rule out non-AD brain diseases and the attempts to quantify brain atrophy and density for the diagnosis of AD. The chapter discusses the significance of the white matter lesions seen with MRI in the brains of many individuals with AD. It reviews of the new technique of NMR spectroscopy and a discussion of its potential for diagnosis in AD. CT and MRI will demonstrate brain atrophy that occurs in association with AD. Unfortunately, atrophy is not specific to AD and cannot be used for the purpose of diagnosis.
