Specific hippocampal volume reductions in individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

TitleSpecific hippocampal volume reductions in individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1997
AuthorsConvit A, de Leon MJ, Tarshish C, De Santi S, Tsui W, Rusinek H, George A
JournalNeurobiol Aging
Volume18
Issue2
Pagination131-8
Date Published1997 Mar-Apr
ISSN0197-4580
KeywordsAged, Alzheimer Disease, Cognition Disorders, Female, Hippocampus, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Observer Variation, Psychometrics, Risk, Temporal Lobe
Abstract

Our goal was to ascertain the involvement of the temporal lobe in the preclinical (not yet diagnosable) stages of dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT) by using MRI-derived volumes. We assessed anatomical subdivisions of the temporal lobe on three groups of carefully screened age- and education-matched elderly individuals: 27 normal elderly (NL), 22 individuals with minimal cognitive impairment (MCI), who did not fulfill DAT criteria but were regarded at high risk for future DAT, and 27 DAT individuals. We found hippocampal volume reductions of 14% for the MCI and 22% for the DAT group compared to the NL group. Utilizing regression analyses and after accounting for gender head size-age, generalized atrophy (CSF), and other temporal lobe subvolumes, the hippocampal volume separated NL from MCI individuals, correctly classifying 74%. For NL and MCI groups combined the hippocampal volume was the only temporal lobe subvolume related to delayed recall memory performance. When contrasting MCI and DAT individuals, the fusiform gyrus volume uniquely improved the ability of the hippocampal volume to separate MCI from DAT individuals from 74 to 80%. Our cross-sectional data suggest that, within the temporal lobe, specific hippocampal volume reductions separated the group at risk for DAT from the normal group. By the time impairments are sufficient to allow a diagnosis of DAT to be made, in addition to the medial temporal lobe volume reductions, the lateral temporal lobe is also showing volume reductions, most saliently involving the fusiform gyrus.

DOI10.1016/s0197-4580(97)00001-8
Alternate JournalNeurobiol Aging
PubMed ID9258889
Grant ListAG03051 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
AG13616 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
P30 AG08051 / AG / NIA NIH HHS / United States
Related Institute: 
Brain Health Imaging Institute (BHII)

Weill Cornell Medicine
Department of Radiology
525 East 68th Street New York, NY 10065