Background:
Compared with monolinguals, bilinguals have a later onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer disease symptoms and greater neuropathology at similar cognitive and clinical levels. The present study follows a previous report showing the faster conversion from MCI to Alzheimer disease for bilingual patients than comparable monolinguals, as predicted by a cognitive reserve (CR).
Purpose:
Identify whether the increased CR found for bilinguals in the previous study was accompanied by greater gray matter (GM) atrophy than was present for the monolinguals.
Methods:
A novel deep-learning technique based on convolutional neural networks was used to enhance clinical scans into 1 mm MPRAGEs and analyze the GM volume at the time of MCI diagnosis in the earlier study.
Patients:
Twenty-four bilingual and 24 monolingual patients were diagnosed with…
