Exploring the potential clinical application of CEST MRI in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

Motivation: CEST MRI has potential to image the molecular changes in the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Goal(s): Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of CEST MRI in imaging AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or non-AD dementia patients at 3T. Approach: CEST MRI scans were conducted for 40 healthy volunteers and 22 MCI/AD/non-AD dementia patients. Other clinical assessments include PET scans to detect the amyloid plaques and Montreal Cognitive Assessment Hong Kong version (HK-MoCA) to evaluate the cognitive function. Results: CEST revealed significant differences between HC and patient groups and exhibited strong correlations with the HK-MoCA score. Impact: CEST revealed significant differences between HC and MCI/AD and exhibited strong correlations with the HK-MoCA score. CEST MRI has potential to detect molecular changes in brain, providing additional information for AD diagnosis in clinical MRI settings.