ABSTRACT
Contrast-Enhanced MRI ....................................................................................................... 117
7.5. Imaging the Cell-Death Stage of Alzheimer’s Disease with Volumetric MRI................... 119
7.6. Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 119
Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ 120
References..................................................................................................................................... 120
Historical progress in medicine can be charted along the lines of technical innovations that have
visualized the invisible. In this regard, the end of the 19th century was a landmark period. At around
the same time that staining techniques were developed that visualized the histology of normal and
diseased brains, Wilhelm Roentgen introduced the x-ray that visualized normal and abnormal
internal structures in living people. In 1906, a few years after Roentgen received the first Noble
prize in physics for his achievement, Alois Alzheimer first visualized amyloid plaques and
neurofibrillary tangles — key features of his eponymonous disease — by looking at dead brains
under the microscope. Now, almost a century later, these separate achievements are converging
with the development of imaging techniques that visualize Alzheimer’s disease among the living.
