Magnetic resonance imaging in dementia

Objective: To describe and illustrate the key findings on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the most common dementias of neurodegenerative origin: Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, variants of frontotemporal dementia, progressive supranuclear palsy, variants of multiple system atrophy, Parkinson dementia, and corticobasal degeneration.

Conclusion: Today the role of MRI is no longer limited to ruling out underlying causes of cognitive deterioration. MRI can show patterns of atrophy with a predictive value for certain dementias which, although not specific or unique to each disease, can help to confirm diagnostic suspicion or to identify certain processes. For this reason, it is important for radiologists to know the characteristic findings of the most common dementias.