Mild Alzheimer's disease

These images are from a 70 year-old man who began experiencing difficulty with memory about 9 months prior to imaging. He had a history of atrial fibrillation and was taking warfarin. He had become lost on several occasions, and had difficulty orienting himself in unfamiliar circumstances. His performance on a standardized assessment of general cognitive status (the "mini mental status examination", or MMSE) was normal. MR images showed globally widened hemispheric sulci, which is more prominent in parietal lobes. Regional cerebral metabolism is markedly abnormal, with hypometabolism in anterior temporal and posterior parietal regions. These changes are bilateral, but the right hemisphere is slightly more affected than the left, and the posterior cingulate is relatively spared.
Some details have been altered to protect confidentiality.
Keith A. Johnson, J. Alex Becker