Neurológia pre prax 2/2024

Markers of neurodegenerative dementias: the contribution of neuroimaging and neurophysiological methods

There has been a great development in imaging methods and their use for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. The aim is to discover more sensitive biomarkers that would enable early stratification of dementia subtypes and disease prognosis. There are various types of imaging methods such as nuclear medicine (SPECT, PET), MRI and electrophysiology (EEG), which provide complementary picture about degenerative diseases. The main purpose of this work is to review the most typical findings in neurodegenerative dementia and their most common variants and subtypes. Although some of them are suitable only for scientific purposes, many have been utilized in diagnostic guidelines.

Keywords: SPECT, PET, MRI, EEG, neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, mild cognitive impairment