Cited by 72Dementia and Cognitive Impairment ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatmentsFunctional Brain Connectivity Studies

Structural neuroimaging in preclinical dementia: From microstructural deficits and grey matter atrophy to macroscale connectomic changes

Open access
Mak, Elijah, Gabel, Silvy, Mirette, Habib, Su, Li, Williams, Guy B, Waldman, Adam, Wells, Katie, Ritchie, Karen +2 more·2017·Ageing Research Reviews

Abstract

The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of neuroimaging studies characterising brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), where both widespread atrophy and 'signature' brain regions have been implicated. In parallel, a prolonged latency period has been established in AD, with abnormal cerebral changes beginning many years before symptom onset. This raises the possibility of early therapeutic intervention, even before symptoms, when treatments could have the greatest effect on disease-course modification. Two important prerequisites of this endeavour are (1) accurate characterisation or risk stratification and (2) monitoring of progression using neuroimaging outcomes as a surrogate biomarker in those without symptoms but who will develop AD, here referred to as preclinical AD. Structural neuroimaging modalities have been used to identify brain changes related to risk factors for AD, such as familial genetic mutations, risk genes (for example apolipoprotein epsilon-4 allele), and/or family history. In this review, we summarise structural imaging findings in preclinical AD. Overall, the literature suggests early vulnerability in characteristic regions, such as the medial temporal lobe structures and the precuneus, as well as white matter tracts in the fornix, cingulum and corpus callosum. We conclude that while structural markers are promising, more research and validation studies are needed before future secondary prevention trials can adopt structural imaging biomarkers as either stratification or surrogate biomarkers.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.arr.2016.10.001

Cites

168 of 168 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

1 of the 169 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Mak, E., Gabel, S., Mirette, H., Su, L., Williams, G. B., Waldman, A., Wells, K., Ritchie, K., Ritchie, C., & O’Brien, J.
Affiliations
  • University of Cambridge (GB)
  • University of Edinburgh (GB)
  • Imperial College London (GB)
  • Inserm (FR)
Venue
Ageing Research Reviews
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-05
Volume
35
Pages
250-264
ISSN
1568-1637 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2537534180
Cited by
71
References
169
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
FWCI
0.86
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Ageing Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Apollo (University of Cambridge) (submittedVersion)
  • Apollo
Funders
Cambridge University Hospitals
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Functional Brain Connectivity Studies
Keywords
preclinical Alzheimer's disease, structural neuroimaging, gray matter atrophy, white matter microstructure, connectomics, medial temporal lobe, precuneus, fornix, cingulum, corpus callosum, risk stratification, surrogate markers, disease progression monitoring, secondary prevention
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Atrophy, Dementia, Humans, Biomarkers, Disease Progression, Asymptomatic Diseases, Neuroimaging, Connectome, Gray Matter

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review