Evaluation of brain atrophy using visual rating scales and their clinical contribution to the early and differential diagnosis of dementia
Abstract
Brain imaging methods have a major clinical benefit not only for identifying potentially treatable causes or determining the vascular aetiology of dementia, but also for the differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease (AN), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) that are characterized by different patterns of brain atrophy. Visual rating scales that allow to quantify the degree of atrophy of individual brain areas have been developed for this purpose.
They thus represent a useful tool for the early and differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases in clinical practice. This article summarizes current knowledge about the diagnosis of AN, FTD and DLB using visual rating scales and based on this knowledge offers recommendations for clinical practice.