Narayanan L, Murray AD. What can imaging tell us about cognitive impairment and dementia? World J Radiol 2016; 8(3): 240-254 [PMID: 27029053 DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i3.240]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Alison Dorothy Murray, PhD, MBChB(Hons), FRCR, FRCP, Roland Sutton Chair of Radiology, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Division of Applied Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Lilian Sutton Building, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom. a.d.murray@abdn.ac.uk
Research Domain of This Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Mar 28, 2016; 8(3): 240-254 Published online Mar 28, 2016. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v8.i3.240
What can imaging tell us about cognitive impairment and dementia?
Leela Narayanan, Alison Dorothy Murray
Leela Narayanan, Department of Clinical Radiology, NHS Grampian Health Board, NHS Foresterhill Health Site, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
Leela Narayanan, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Division of Applied Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
Alison Dorothy Murray, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Division of Applied Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom
Author contributions: This review was written by Narayanan L and the manuscript revised by Murray AD.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflicts of interest or financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Alison Dorothy Murray, PhD, MBChB(Hons), FRCR, FRCP, Roland Sutton Chair of Radiology, Aberdeen Biomedical Imaging Centre, Division of Applied Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Lilian Sutton Building, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, United Kingdom. a.d.murray@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-1224-438362
Received: August 24, 2015 Peer-review started: August 26, 2015 First decision: October 27, 2015 Revised: November 28, 2015 Accepted: January 5, 2016 Article in press: January 7, 2016 Published online: March 28, 2016
Core Tip
Core tip: Dementia is a clinical diagnosis that cannot be made on imaging. Structural and molecular imaging techniques are useful to identify the likely underlying neuropathology. Neuroimaging techniques, such as computed tomography (CT) and blood flow single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are routinely used in clinical practice in all newly diagnosed dementia patients. Structural imaging with CT or magnetic resonance imaging is useful in suspected frontotemporal dementia. Amyloid positron emission tomography imaging has recently been introduced into clinical practice and is likely to be most useful in early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Dopamine transporter imaging with iodine-123-b-carbo-methoxy-3-b-(4-iodophenyltropane) fluropropyl SPECT has been firmly established in clinical practice to support a diagnosis of Lewy body disease. This article is a review of the imaging techniques not only currently in clinical use but also the emerging imaging techniques in research.
