Association between Regional Cerebral Blood Flow and Mini-Mental State Examination Score in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.

Abstract

In patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), cerebral blood flow (CBF) is decreased from the early stages. CBF in AD is currently estimated from Z-scores using statistical analysis. However, the Z-score is not considered the impaired area ratio. In the present study, a novel indicator, ΣzS, associated with brain surface area and Zscores, is defined and the association with regional CBF has been estimated using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, which indicate the severity of cognitive impairment in patients with AD. A negative correlation was detected between ΣzS in the posterior cingulate gyrus and the subset numbers 1, 2, and 5 of the total MMSE scores. Furthermore, a negative correlation was detected between the total MMSE score and ΣzS in Brodmann area 30, which is a subdivided area of the brain. These results suggest that ΣzS may be a useful indicator of CBF metabolism, and thus may improve the current understanding of cognitive function in patients with AD.