Clinical brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy for management of Alzheimer's and sub-cortical ischemic vascular dementia in older people.

This study examined the clinical usefulness of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) performed using an automated single voxel technique at 1.0 T field strength in a district general hospital magnetic resonance (MR) scanner in the assessment of older people referred to a memory clinic with suspected dementia. Of 50 elderly subjects (M:F 20:30) examined and followed-up clinically over more than 2 years, 20 had clinical Alzheimer's disease (AD), 18 had clinical vascular dementia, six had mixed features and three were normal.