Correlation of findings in advanced MR techniques with global severity scales in patients with some grade of cognitive impairment

Abstract Introduction: Some previous studies in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease have probed changes in the results of 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy and perfusion- and diffusion-weighted imaging. The purpose of this work was to correlate the results of perfusion- and diffusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy with the results of two global severity scales in cognitive impairment: the clinical dementia rating (CDR) and the global deterioration scale (GDS). Patients and methods: We evaluated 87 patients with cognitive impairment of diverse grade (35 men and 52 women; mean age, 70·2 ± 8·5 years old). All patients were evaluated by a neurological team in our hospital. They applied both global severity scales (CDR and GDS) and referred the patients to our diagnostic imaging department to make a cerebral magnetic resonance imaging study and studies of diffusion- and perfusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We excluded patients with h...