Home › Research › Mild cognitive impairment
Tracking Alzheimer's disease
Thompson PM, Hayashi KM, Dutton RA, Chiang MC, Leow AD, Sowell ER, De Zubicaray G, Becker JT et al.. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2007-02-01
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Population-based brain mapping provides great insight into the trajectory of aging and dementia, as well as brain changes that normally occur over the human life span. We describe three novel brain mapping techniques, cortical thickness mapping, tensor-based morphometry (TBM), and hippocampal surface modeling, which offer enormous power for measuring disease progression in drug trials, and shed light on the neuroscience of brain degeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We report the first time-lapse maps of cortical atrophy spreading dynamically in the living brain, based on averaging data from populations of subjects with Alzheimer's disease and normal subjects imaged longitudinally with MRI. These dynamic sequences show a rapidly advancing wave of cortical atrophy sweeping from limbic and temporal cortices into higher-order association and ultimately primary sensorimotor areas, in a pattern that correlates with cognitive decline. A complementary technique, TBM, reveals the 3D profile of atrophic rates, at each point in the brain. A third technique, hippocampal surface modeling, plots the profile of shape alterations across the hippocampal surface. The three techniques provide moderate to highly automated analyses of images, have been validated on hundreds of scans, and are sensitive to clinically relevant changes in individual patients and groups undergoing different drug treatments. We compare time-lapse maps of AD, MCI, and other dementias, correlate these changes with cognition, and relate them to similar time-lapse maps of childhood development, schizophrenia, and HIV-associated brain degeneration. Strengths and weaknesses of these different imaging measures for basic neuroscience and drug trials are discussed.
Key findings
- A complementary technique, TBM, reveals the 3D profile of atrophic rates, at each point in the brain.
- A third technique, hippocampal surface modeling, plots the profile of shape alterations across the hippocampal surface.
- The three techniques provide moderate to highly automated analyses of images, have been validated on hundreds of scans, and are sensitive to clinically relevant changes in individual patients and groups undergoing different drug treatments.
- We compare time-lapse maps of AD, MCI, and other dementias, correlate these changes with cognition, and relate them to similar time-lapse maps of childhood development, schizophrenia, and HIV-associated brain degeneration.
- Strengths and weaknesses of these different imaging measures for basic neuroscience and drug trials are discussed.
Why it matters
This paper describes three brain mapping techniques that can measure the spread of brain shrinkage over time and track disease progression in drug trials. It is about tools for monitoring, not about a treatment, cure, or prevention.
Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: journal h-index 399 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2007 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 258 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 12.3 citations a year over 21 year(s) since 2007 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 12.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 10 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 25 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Arthur W. Toga: h-index 179 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University of California, Los Angeles: institution h-index 1,923 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 17413023) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Thompson, P. M., Hayashi, K. M., Dutton, R. A., Chiang, M. C., Leow, A. D., Sowell, E. R., et al. (2007). Tracking Alzheimer's disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1379.017
Vancouver
Thompson PM, Hayashi KM, Dutton RA, Chiang MC, Leow AD, Sowell ER, et al. Tracking Alzheimer's disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2007. doi:10.1196/annals.1379.017. PMID: 17413023.
BibTeX
@article{thompson2007-17413023,
author = {Thompson, P. M. and Hayashi, K. M. and Dutton, R. A. and Chiang, M. C. and Leow, A. D. and Sowell, E. R. and De Zubicaray, G. and Becker, J. T. and others},
title = {{Tracking Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1196/annals.1379.017},
pmid = {17413023},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1379.017}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here. Showing 12 of 24.
Later studies that cite this one
10 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references. Showing the 8 highest-scoring.