Neuroimaging methods for assessing the brain in diabetes mellitus (literature review)

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is associated with changes in the structure of the brain and deterioration of cognitive functions from mild to moderate according to neuropsychological testing. With the growing DM epidemic and the increasing number of people living to old age, cognitive dysfunctions associated with DM can have serious consequences for the future of public and practical health. Chronic hyperglycemia, severe episodes of hypoglycemia, and microvascular complications are important risk factors common for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. DM is also associated with structural and functional changes in the brain, which can be diagnosed by various types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. In this review, we investigate studies conducted over the past two decades to improve the understanding of how DM effects the brain function and structure. We also describe the changes characteristic of type 1 and type 2 diabetes during standard MRI, functional MRI and proton magnetic-resonance spectroscopy (proton MRS) as well as their features