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Computerised Tomography in Alzheimer's Disease

Methods of Scan Analysis, Comparison with Normal Controls, and Clinical/Radiological Associations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Alistair Burns ,
Robin Jacoby ,
Michael Philpot  and
Raymond Levy
Alistair Burns*
Affiliation:
Guy's and Lewisham NHS Trust, Hither Green Hospital, London SE13
Robin Jacoby
Affiliation:
Guy's and Lewisham NHS Trust, Hither Green Hospital, London SE13
Michael Philpot
Affiliation:
Guy's and Lewisham NHS Trust, Hither Green Hospital, London SE13
Raymond Levy
Affiliation:
Section of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
*
∗Correspondence
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Abstract

One hundred and thirty-eight patients satisfying NINCDS/ADRDA criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 36 normal controls underwent cranial CT. A comparison of methods of scan analysis showed good agreement between computer-assisted methods and visual ratings and planimetry. The CT scans of controls differed significantly from patients and a discriminant analysis, based on all CT measures, predicted group membership (control or patient) in 81% of cases. Within the AD group, cortical atrophy correlated with age and duration of illness. Global tests of cognitive function correlated significantly with both cortical atrophy and ventricular size. Subjects who died in a three-year follow-up had more atrophy and larger third ventricles than survivors, but this effect was due entirely to increased age.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 159 , Issue 5 , November 1991 , pp. 609 - 614
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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