Article

Magnetization transfer measurements of the hippocampus in patients with Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, and other types of dementia.

Department of Geriatric Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, Japan.
American Journal of Neuroradiology (impact factor: 2.93). 09/2000; 21(7):1235-42. pp.1235-42
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Although atrophy of structures in the medial temporal lobe has been considered an indication of Alzheimer's disease (AD), atrophic changes on MR images have also been associated with other dementing diseases and are not specific to AD. This study was undertaken to determine whether characteristic alterations in the hippocampus of patients with AD are detectable with magnetization transfer (MT) imaging.
Coronal MT imaging was performed in 35 patients with probable AD, in 14 patients with vascular dementia, in 13 patients with other types of dementia, and in 23 control subjects to measure MT ratios of the hippocampus. Medial temporal lobe atrophy was graded subjectively on a five-point scale.
Scores of medial temporal lobe atrophy in all dementia groups were significantly higher than those in control subjects, but no differences were found among the dementia groups. MT ratios in the hippocampus were significantly lower in patients with AD than in those with non-AD dementia and in the control subjects; however, no differences were found between the non-AD dementia patients and the control subjects. MT ratio measurements were better than visual analysis of atrophy for differentiating AD patients from those with non-AD dementia (an overall discrimination rate of 77% versus 65%). MT ratios significantly correlated with scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination and with medial temporal lobe atrophy in AD patients but not in patients with non-AD dementia.
MT measurements may be more specific than visual analysis in detecting structural damage of the hippocampus in AD patients and might be useful in discriminating AD from vascular dementia and other types of dementia.

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Keywords

13 patients
 
14 patients
 
35 patients
 
AD patients
 
atrophic changes
 
characteristic alterations
 
Coronal MT imaging
 
discriminating AD
 
discrimination rate
 
five-point scale
 
magnetization transfer
 
measure MT ratios
 
medial temporal lobe
 
medial temporal lobe atrophy
 
Mini-Mental State Examination
 
MR images
 
non-AD dementia
 
non-AD dementia patients
 
probable AD
 
vascular dementia