Investigation of iron content changes in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment using quantitative susceptibility mapping

This study investigated iron content changes using Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) technique in AD and MCI patients, as compared with normal controls, and correlated iron deposit levels with cognitive scores to assess the clinical values of QSM in the diagnosis of AD and MCI. Bilateral caudate nucleus and right putamen showed significantly increased QSM values in AD and MCI patients as compared to healthy controls. The QSM values of right caudate nucleus correlated with the MMSE scores of AD patients. These results might indicate QSM as the potential biomarker for clinical diagnosis of AD and MCI.