Early cortical change in Alzheimer's disease detected using cortical pattern matching and a disease-specific population-based brain atlas

We report the first, detailed, population-based maps of early gray matter loss across the cortex in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), identified with a new computational strategy that uncovers disease-specific patterns of cortical organization and tissue distribution. The approach, based on random tensor fields, represents information on the variability in cortical patterns and individual gray matter distribution in a probabilistic brain atlas specialized for the disease. With a new method for averaging cortical anatomy, disease-specific features and cortical asymmetries emerged that were not observed in individual subjects due to normal anatomic complexity. Fundamental patterns in the structural variability of the human cortex were resolved, revealing unsuspected directional biases in cortical pattern variation in both healthy and diseased populations. Population-based maps revealed earliest gray matter loss in temporo-parietal cortices, with left greater than right hemisphere deficits, and a comparative sparing of sensorimotor and occipital cortices.