He disclosed that he has no financial conflicts of interest related to this study. Dr. Karow's coinvestigators included his mentors Anders Dale, Ph.D., and Dr. Carl K. Hoh. Dr. Dale is a founder of CorTechs Labs Inc., which developed the commercial version of the FreeSurfer software, called NeuroQuant; he holds equity interest in the company and serves on its scientific advisory board. Dr. Karow said the terms of this arrangement were reviewed and approved by UCSD in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.
According to Dr. Karow, the FreeSurfer-based methods used in the study also hold potential for the diagnosis of different types of dementia and behavioral disorders, as well as for clinical evaluations of medications, including those designed to slow the progression of AD.
Brain thickness and activity differed in patients with AD (left) compared with controls (right). Courtesy Dr. David S. Karow