Speaking of Alzheimer's disease, Duke University Medical Center researchers were able to use imaging technology in the identification of a new marker that may help identify those at greatest risk for cognitive decline and the development of Alzheimer's disease.

The study focused on people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a condition that affects an estimated four to five million individuals in the United States.

People with MCI are at increased risk for developing Alzheimer's disease in the future and approximately 30-50 percent of MCI subjects will develop Alzheimer's if followed over a three- to five-year period.

The imaging method used is called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on people with MCI to track regions of the brain that become active or inactive when doing tasks that involve memory. These individuals were monitored over time to document progression to Alzheimer's, if any.

According to the study's lead author, Jeffrey R. Petrella, M.D., and director of the Alzheimer's Imaging Research Laboratory and associate professor of radiology at Duke:

"A single baseline fMRI measure of deactivation could help predict which individuals will convert to Alzheimer's over the next several years.

On the other hand, the fMRI scans of MCI subjects who did not convert looked more like those of healthy normal people, and could therefore be reassuring."

An area of the brain which has recently been implicated in personal memory - posteromedial cortex - was the focus in this particular study.

Results are published in PLoS One.

Find more details from Duke University Medical Center.