Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a 3D deep learning model that combines MRI scans with biomarker data to quantify the additional brain burden caused when Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Lewy body pathology (LBP) coexist.
~50% of autopsy-confirmed Alzheimer’s disease cases also exhibit Lewy body pathology, making mixed brain diseases far more common than previously thought.
The AI model was trained on 4,355 MRI scans from cognitively healthy adults and validated on 803 cognitively impaired participants across five established research cohorts.
Patients with both Alzheimer’s and Lewy body pathology showed the largest brain-age gap:
• 6.61 years (AD + LBP)
• 4.32 years (AD only)
• 1.98 years (LBP only)
The mixed-pathology group also experienced the fastest progression of brain tissue loss and the steepest cognitive decline over time.
Researchers also observed that female patients with Alzheimer’s-only or mixed pathology exhibited greater brain-age gaps than male patients.
The research team is now expanding the healthy reference dataset from 4,355 to more than 50,000 participants to further improve the model’s accuracy and clinical applicability.
Source: Opendatscience
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