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Docteur de l'université Automatic Segmentation and Shape Analysis ...

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Chapter 1 Introduction 13<br />

Figure 1.5: A theoretical mo<strong>de</strong>l of natural progression of cognitive <strong>and</strong> biological<br />

markers of Alzheimer disease <strong>and</strong> the sensitivity of markers to disease<br />

state. Amyloid markers (cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β42 <strong>and</strong> PET amyloid<br />

tracer uptake) represent the earliest <strong>de</strong>tectable changes in the Alzheimer<br />

disease course but have already plateaued by the MCI stage Functional <strong>and</strong><br />

metabolic markers <strong>de</strong>tected by task-<strong>de</strong>pen<strong>de</strong>nt activation on functional MRI<br />

<strong>and</strong> 18 F-fluoro<strong>de</strong>oxyglucose PET are abnormal by the MCI stage <strong>and</strong> continue<br />

to change well into the <strong>de</strong>mentia stage. Structural changes come later, following<br />

a temporal pattern mirroring tau pathology <strong>de</strong>position. Source: Frisoni et al.<br />

(2010).<br />

Based on the structural MR imaging markers of medial temporal lobe <strong>and</strong> hip-<br />

pocampal atrophy, the prediction of MCI patients converting into AD gives on av-<br />

erage 81% sensitivity <strong>and</strong> 73% specificity (see meta-analysis by Yuan et al., 2009).<br />

However, it has been pointed out that other markers, such as CSF biomarkers,<br />

have to be take into consi<strong>de</strong>ration for the diagnosis due to the lack of specificity in<br />

predicting AD at MCI stage solely on the ground of medial temporal lobe atrophy.<br />

Hippocampal atrophy, as well as whole brain atrophy <strong>and</strong> ventricular enlargement,<br />

is not specific to AD, <strong>and</strong> may well occur in the natural process of normal aging.<br />

Patterns of atrophy in hippocampal subfields <strong>and</strong> cortical areas may provi<strong>de</strong> speci-<br />

ficity to the disease. Because of the non-linearity in the progress of the atrophy,<br />

the rate of atrophy accelerates in the transition stage from MCI to AD, <strong>and</strong> slows

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