Neuroimaging Findings in Mild Cognitive Impairment

The clinical construct of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) identifies a syndrome of cognitive deficit which is not significant enough to interfere with daily activities, whose fate is unpredictable without establishing the underlying cause. Thus, MCI, though being the natural “reservoir” of subsequent dementing neurodegenerative diseases, can be provoked by a variety of psychiatric and systemic diseases as well as by drugs, alcohol, and substance abuse. In this context, morphological and, especially, functional neuroimaging by means of multitracer SPECT and PET are useful tools to provide clue information on the underlying pathological process. Both MRI and SPECT/PET have been included as indicative or supportive biomarkers in the diagnostic criteria of a variety of neurodegenerative conditions, already at the MCI stage, ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to dementia with Lewy bodies and to frontotemporal dementia. New developments include MRI high-field equipment and functional techniques, fluorinated PET radiopharmaceuticals for protein Tau detection, and receptor studies. In the advanced memory clinics, appropriate use of neuroimaging is nowadays paramount for the correct diagnosis of cognitive disorders.