[Reliability of volumetric measures of mesial temporal structures].
BACKGROUND
The development of reliable techniques for volumetric measurement of mesial temporal structures (amygdala, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide data for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders, mainly temporal lobe epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.


METHODS
We investigated these techniques performing intraobserver and interobserver reliability study concerning normal controls, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease patients using the intra-class correlation coefficient.


RESULTS
Intra-observer reliability of evaluated structures ranged from 0.93 to 0.99 (p<0.001). Inter-observer reliability ranged from 0.70 to 0.95 (p < or = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that the technique of MRI morphometry of mesial temporal regions can be considered a reliable tool which may help in the investigation of neuropsychiatric disorders, since used by adequately trained clinicians and researchers.
Instituto de Psiquiatria, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo. rlmarche@dialdata.com.br
Renato L
RL
Marchetti
Cássio M C
CM
Bottino
Dionísio
D
Azevedo
Suely K Nagahashi
SK
Marie
Cláudio C
CC
de Castro
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D020534:Parahippocampal Gyrus / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology