Predicting Alzheimer's disease: a neuroimaging study with 3D convolutional neural networks

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia. Dementia refers to diseases that are characterized by a loss of memory or other cognitive impairments, and is caused by damage to nerve cells in the brain. In the United States, an estimated 5.2 million people of all ages have AD in 2014. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition in which an individual has mild but noticeable changes in thinking abilities. Individuals with MCI are more likely to develop AD than inviduals without [1]. Early detection of the disease can be achieved by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technique that uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create a detailed 3D image of the brain.