Utilizing synthetic MRI and brain functional analysis for early Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis

Motivation: Evidence has been proven that pathological changes in myelin may precede the classic pathological changes of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Goal(s): Assess the feasibility of Synthetic MRI (SyMRI) in detecting myelopathology in early AD diagnosis. Reveal the relationship between myelin sheath and clinical manifestations. Approach: Brain MRI scans are performed on 30 AD patients and 25 controls. SyMRI-derived relaxometry and myelin maps, along with neurofunctional and structural metrics from BOLD and NODDI, are analyzed. Impact: This study could improve early Alzheimer's diagnosis by combining SyMRI, myelin mapping, BOLD, and NODDI to identify early biomarkers of the disease.