Maged Goubran1, Audrey Peiwan Fan1, Praveen Gulaka1, David Douglas1, Steven Chao2, Andrew 5 Graduates of Quon1, Greg Zaharchuk1, Minal Vasanawala1, and Michael Zeineh1
1Department of Radiology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States, 2Department of Neurology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
Hippocampal subfields are selectively affected in AD, however the
hippocampus is assessed as a whole in PET studies. In this work we investigate
the metabolic, perfusion and diffusion changes within the subfields of patients
with MCI and AD using a simultaneous PET-MR scanner. Our preliminary results
demonstrate significant reduction in metabolism and perfusion that are
appreciated on the subfield level but not when assessing the hippocampus as a
whole. This work suggests that subfield assessment is potentially more
sensitive to pathological changes in AD than whole hippocampus analysis, and
highlights the utility of simultaneous PET-MR as a tool for discovering novel
biomarkers in neurodegenerative diseases.
