Cognitive declines correlate with decreased cortical volume and perfusion in dementia of Alzheimer type.

Cerebral CT changes are correlated with cognitive declines among 18 patients with probable dementia of Alzheimer type (DAT) (7 men, 11 women, mean age 75.4 years) and are compared for control purposes with similar measures among 18 age-matched normal volunteers (8 men, 10 women, mean age 73.7 years). Mean follow-up intervals are 28.6 months for DAT and 27.0 months for controls. For DAT, annual rates for ventricular volume enlargement are +9.2% and for cortical atrophy are -2.1%. Annual reductions in regional cerebral perfusions per 100 g brain/min, are: total cortex -1.1 ml, frontal -1.2 ml, temporal and parietal -0.9 ml, basal ganglia -1.6 ml, thalamus -2.5 ml, total white matter -0.6 ml, frontal white matter -0.7 ml. At entry evaluation, compared to normals, DAT patients had reduced CT densities in white matter, but not in cortex. Nevertheless, cortical CT densities declined progressively at annual rates of -0.72 Hounsfield units (HU), but remained constant in white matter. Annual point score declines for Cognitive Capacity Screening Examinations were -2.0 and for Mini Mental State: -2.8. Controls showed no cognitive change. Multiple regression analyses correlate cognitive declines with: (1) reductions in perfusion within parietal cortex (p = 0.015), (2) decreases in cortical volume (p = 0.019), and (3) decreases in HU within subcortical gray matter (p = 0.007).