Detection of early stage Alzheimer's disease in gradient-based MR images using deep learning methods

Abstract

Alzheimer's Disease (AD), a form of dementia prevalent in older age, is a neurodegenerative condition impacting brain nerve cells. Early-stage AD symptoms are often subtle, complicating timely diagnosis. Early detection allows for intervention, slowing disease progression and facilitating appropriate treatments. Deep learning methods, particularly gradient-based images, prove promising for early Alzheimer's detection in Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging. Gradient-based images, highlighting details in low-intensity images and enhancing contrast, play a vital role in determining structures' location, shape, and size, notably in techniques like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). This study aims to boost model performance in early AD detection by applying the Gradient filter before training deep learning models on diverse-angle and constant-density brain MRI images. The dataset comprises three categories representing early-stage AD, including images of Mild cognitive impairment and healthy individuals. Original and gradient-filtered image subsets were inputted into deep learning models. Results indicate superior performance of gradient-based images, with the Densenet201 deep learning model achieving the highest accuracy at 98.63%.