Prediction of Alzheimer’s Disease Using Machine Learning Classifiers

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common brain failure for which no cure has yet been found. The disease starts with a disturbance in the brain structure and then it manifests itself clinically. Therefore, by timely and correct diagnosis of changes in the structure of the brain, the occurrence of this disease or at least its progression can be prevented. Due to the fact that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to obtain very useful information from the brain, and also because it is non-invasive, this method has been considered by researchers. Materials and Methods: The data were obtained from an MRI database (MIRIAD) of 69 subjects including 46 AD patients and 23 healthy controls (HC). Individuals were categorized based on two criteria including NINCDS-ADRAD and MMSE, as the gold standard. In this paper, we used the support vector machine (SVM) and Bayesian SVM classifiers. Results: Using the SVM classifier with Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) kernel, we distinguished AD and HC with an accuracy of 88.34%. The most important regions of interest (ROIs) in this study included right para hippocampal gyrus, left para hippocampal gyrus, right hippocampus, and left hippocampus. Conclusion: This study showed that the SVM model with Gaussian RBF kernel can distinguish AD from HC with high accuracy. These studies are of great importance in medical science. Based on the results of this study, MRI centers and neurologists can perform AD screening tests in people over the age of 50 years.