title: Brain atrophy in Alzheimer's Disease and aging.
abstract: Thanks to its safety and accessibility, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is extensively used in clinical routine and research field, largely contributing to our understanding of the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the main findings in AD and normal aging over the past twenty years, focusing on the patterns of gray and white matter changes assessed in vivo using MRI. Major progresses in the field concern the segmentation of the hippocampus with novel manual and automatic segmentation approaches, which might soon enable to assess also hippocampal subfields. Advancements in quantification of hippocampal volumetry might pave the way to its broader use as outcome marker in AD clinical trials. Patterns of cortical atrophy have been shown to accurately track disease progression and seem promising in distinguishing among AD subtypes. Disease progression has also been associated with changes in white matter tracts. Recent studies have investigated two areas often overlooked in AD, such as the striatum and basal forebrain, reporting significant atrophy, although the impact of these changes on cognition is still unclear. Future integration of different MRI modalities may further advance the field by providing more powerful biomarkers of disease onset and progression.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy; Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pini
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Michela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pievani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy; Dementia Research Centre, Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, UCL Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bocchetta
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy; Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Altomare
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bosco
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy; Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 06, Institut de la Mémoire et de la Maladie d'Alzheimer (IM2A) Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpétrière & Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière (ICM), UMR S 1127, Hôpital de la Pitié-Salpétrière Paris & CATI Multicenter Neuroimaging Platform, France.
authors.forename: Enrica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cavedo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Samantha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galluzzi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy.
authors.forename: Moira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marizzoni
authors.affiliation: Laboratory Alzheimer's Neuroimaging & Epidemiology, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Brescia, Italy; Memory Clinic and LANVIE-Laboratory of Neuroimaging of Aging, University Hospitals and University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: giovanni.frisoni@hcuge.ch.
authors.forename: Giovanni B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Frisoni
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology*; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001284:Atrophy; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Aging; Alzheimer’s disease; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neurodegeneration