title: Visual assessment of medical temporal lobe atrophy in demented and healthy control subjects: correlation with volumetry.
abstract: The present study evaluated the validity of visual rating of medial temporal lobe atrophy on coronal magnetic resonance imaging scans in a population of demented and non-demented individuals. Medial temporal lobe atrophy in 194 subjects was visually rated from hard copies, using a 0-4 rating scale, and a comparison was made with the absolute volumes (ccm) of the medial temporal lobe as estimated with volumetry, using a stereological method. We found a highly significant correlation between the estimated and stereologically measured volumes. There was a 10-fold difference in time spent on rating medial temporal lobe atrophy (1-2 min) vs. time spent calculating the medial temporal lobe volume (10-12 min) on a single subject. The diagnostic accuracy of both methods showed that visual rating was more efficient than volumetry in differentiating Alzheimer's disease from control subjects, We conclude that visual rating is a reliable and fast method to estimate medial temporal lobe atrophy in demented subjects in a clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Family Medicine, Karolinska Institute B56, Huddinge University Hospital, Sweden. lars-olof.wahlund@cnsf.ki.se
authors.forename: L O
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: Wahlund
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Julin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lindqvist
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Scheltens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D001284:Atrophy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*