Voxel–based morphometry (VBM) analysis of brain MRI in patients with neurodegenerative disease

Abstract

Voxel–based morphometry (VBM) and surface–based morphometry（SBM）done by means of MRI have provided new insights into the neuroanatomical basis for subjects with several conditions. These approaches can detect structural brain changes that appear normal on conventional MRI. Recently, the VBM and SBM has been applied to investigate regional volumetric changes of not only whole brain but also hippocampal subfields. Furthermore, we can acquire structural networks using recently introduced technique of source–based morphometry, which applies an independent component analysis (ICA) to a segmented image, arranges voxels into sets that contain similar information, and acquires common morphological features of the gray matter concentration among individuals at the network level. The aim of this article is to review the recent work using VBM and SBM technique in particular focusing on brain MRI in patients with neurodegenerative disease, including multiple system atrophy, Parkinson disease, and dementia.