Using Image Processing on MRI Scans

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive brain disease that gradually destroys memory and thinking skills to an extent that it starts affecting the daily life. It has become the most common cause of dementia among older people. The work presented in this paper evaluates the utility of image processing on the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans to estimate the possibility of an early detection of AD. The total brain atrophy and specifically the hippocampal atrophy are considered strong diagnostic tests for AD. T1 weighted MRIs have been used for the purpose of image processing to evaluate atrophy. The paper demonstrates the applications of several image processing techniques such as K-means clustering, wavelet transform, watershed algorithm and also a customized algorithm tailored for the specific case. It has been implemented on the open source platforms, OpenCV and Qt, which facilitates the implementation and utility of the developed product in the hospitals without requiring any proprietary software. The results obtained from the project could aid the analysis to detect AD along with correlation with the psychiatric results and could thus assist the doctors in detecting AD at an early stage. This could progressively help in understanding and treating AD.