Below is an image of a healthy brain (left hand side) and the brain of a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (right hand side). Although atrophy (shrinkage of a muscle) is common as a person ages the level of atrophy in the imagine on the right highlights increased loss of cells (or neurons) in the brain. This loss may have been caused as a result of plaques and tangles which have lead to the death of cells in the brain. The hippocampus (identified below with blue arrows) has also been impacted. This scan suggests that the person may have difficulty with forming new memories and also learning new tasks.
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