Keith R. Thulborn1, Debra Fleischman2,
R. Shah2, Ian C. Atkinson1, Aiming Lu1
1Center for Magnetic
Resonance Research, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United
States; 2Rush Alzheimer's Disease Clinic, Rush University Medical
Center,, Chicago, IL
Alzheimers disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease for which there is no early detection, no cure and no long lasting intervention. Early changes in cell density may offer an opportunity for detecting preclinical AD, a necessary first step design and evaluate interventions without the use of clinical disease as an outcome measure. We report on the use of quantitative sodium MR imaging for detecting cell density changes in the hippocampal regions of subjects with mild probable AD and mild cognitive impairment that can progress to AD.