MRI study on abnormal gray matter volume in Alzheimer's disease

Objective: To find the pattern of gray matter atrophy of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: Conventional MRI were performed in 19 AD patients and 20 age-and gender-matched healthy controls. Then the volumes of global and local gray matter were analyzed by optimized voxel-based morphometry. Results: Compared to the normal aging, the global gray matter volumes of AD decreased severely (P=0.0048). The local atrophy regions focused on the bilateral hippocampus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and bilateral thalamus (P<0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons). Conclusion: The global and local gray matter volumes of AD have markedly reduced.