MRI patterns of grey matter atrophy in amnestic Mild cognitive impairment

Objective:To compare the patterns of grey matter loss between subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment(aMCI) and normal health eldly.Methods:We studied 20 patients with aMCI and 18 age-and sex-matched healthy control subjects using voxel-based morphometry(VBM) on T1-weighted 3D data sets.The data were collected on a 3 T MR system and analyzed by SPM2 to generate grey matter volume maps.Results:VBM revealed diffusively reduced grey matter in aMCI prominently including the right uncus,the bilateral inferior,superior and midial frontal gyrus,the bilateral medial temporal gyrus,the left inferior temporal gyrus,the left superior temporal gyrus,the right superior parietal gyrus,and the left middle occipital gyrus(P0.001).Conclusion:VBM is a simple and automatic approach providing a full brain assessment of aMCI grey morphology.It is important for diagnosing aMCI.