Comparative analysis of computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scans in Alzheimer patients and controls.

Ten patients with Alzheimer's disease underwent computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging at the same point in time. The mean Mini-Mental State examination score of the patients was 23, indicating that they were mildly impaired. Ten age-equivalent controls also obtained computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging scans. A semiautomated computer program analyzed nine comparable regions of interest on each set of scans. When regions of interest from both types of scans were combined in the same discriminant function analysis, the first two variables selected were from the magnetic resonance imaging data set, and they significantly differentiated 95% of the patients and controls.