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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2025 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Neurol. 2024 Oct 11;44(6):732–751. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1791543

Table 5.

Summary of imaging evidence

Study Modalities studied Dementia or MCI patients included? Multiple time points? Key findings
Kant et al100 MRI No Yes Delirium associated with decreased gray matter at 3-mo follow-up
Gunther et al101 MRI/cognitive battery Yes Yes Duration of delirium is associated with atrophy in several regions. Atrophy associated with poorer long-term cognition
Pendlebury et al102 CT/MRI Yes No White-matter changes predict the incidence of delirium in a 5-year follow-up
Shioiri et al105 MRI No No Specific patterns of preoperative MRI predict delirium incidence
Racine et al107 MRI No No AD-type cortical atrophy predicts delirium incidence
Racine et al108 MRI/Cognitive battery No Yes AD-type cortical atrophy and delirium lead to further atrophy as well as poorer cognitive outcomes
Sprung et al109 MRI/cognitive battery/amyloid PET No Yes AD-type cortical atrophy is more likely to have delirium during ICU admission and have further atrophy on follow-up imaging. Amyloid PET positivity is not related to ICU admission
Rolandi et al110 MRI/fMRI/amyloid PET/cognitive battery No No Amyloid-PET status is not related to POD. POD associated with unique pre-op atrophy pattern
Cavallari et al116 MRI/cognitive battery No No DTI changes in the cerebellum, hippocampus, thalamus, and basal forebrain are associated with POD
Katsumi et al118 MRI/cognitive battery No No Midanterior cingulate thickness is associated with protection against POD
Haggstrom et al120 FDG-PET/cognitive battery Yes Yes Cortical hypometabolism occurs during delirium. Resolution in cortical, particularly PCC, hypometabolism after delirium, and correlation with cognitive performance
Caplan et al122 Transcranial Doppler Yes Yes Flow velocity can distinguish DSD from delirium, acute illness, and baseline dementia
van Montfort et al125 fMRI No Yes Delirium affects functional networks with long-term sequelae
Ditzel et al126 FMRI/cognitive battery No Yes POD associated with decreased functional connectivity strength and cognitive decline

Abbreviations: DSD, delirium superimposed on dementia; POD, postoperative delirium.