title: Morphometry of the amygdala in patients with questionable dementia and mild dementia.
abstract: The volume of the amygdala is reduced in advanced Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, there is controversy whether amygdala atrophy is present in mild AD and in the transitional phase between health and the onset of dementia. The aim of this prospective longitudinal study was to investigate whether amygdala atrophy is present in subjects with questionable dementia and mild dementia and whether amygdala volume is associated with the future rate of cognitive change, that is the annual change in the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). At baseline, volumes of the amygdala were measured in 97 participants aged 70-87 years (40 controls, 33 patients with questionable dementia, 24 patients with mild AD) using magnetic resonance imaging. Eighty-six participants were clinically re-examined after 2.3 years on average. At baseline, significant differences in mean amygdala volume were found between controls and participants with mild AD. There was no significant correlation between the longitudinal annual change in MMSE and the baseline amygdala volume in any of the three groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Germany. Anke.Hensel@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
authors.forename: Anke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hensel
authors.forename: Henrike
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Tillmann
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dieterlen
authors.forename: Steffi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Riedel-Heller
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arendt
authors.forename: Hermann Josef
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Gertz
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology*; D001284:Atrophy; D003704:Dementia / Q000473:pathology*; D015161:Dementia, Multi-Infarct / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales