A Voxel-Based Morphometry of Gray Matter Volume Reduction in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

ObjectivesZZOptimized voxel based morphometry (VBM) has been increasingly applied to investigate differences in the brain mor phology between a group of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and control subjects. Optimized VBM permits comparison of gray matter (GM) volume at voxel-level from the entire brain. The purpose of this study was to assess the regional GM volume change measured by optimized VBM in MCI subjects compared to controls. MethodsZZTwenty patients with MCI and 20 control subjects with normal cognition were recruited for this study. We applied the optimized VBM protocol to the image data including study-specific template and the modulation of the data with the Jacobian deter minants. GM volume differences between the MCI subjects and the control subjects and their correlations with the neuropsycholog ical performances were investigated. ResultsZZOptimized VBM analysis revealed GM volume reduction in hippocampus, precentral gyrus, insula and parietal operculum in the MCI group compared to the control group (family wise error corrected p ＜ 0.05). Korean version of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s disease (CERAD-K) word list recall scores were significantly correlated with the GM volumes of hippocampus, precuneus and posterior cingulate in the MCI group (FWE corrected p ＜ 0.05). ConclusionsZZThe results confirm previous findings of atrophic changes in medial temporal lobe and parietal lobe in the MCI group and suggest that these abnormalities may be related with cognitive decline and prognosis in patients with MCI. Key WordsZZMCI ㆍOptimized VBM ㆍVolumetry.