Three-dimensional patterns of hippocampal atrophy in mild cognitive impairment.
OBJECTIVE
To measure hippocampal volumes in patients diagnosed as having subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) relative to those of elderly control subjects and those of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) using 3-dimensional mesh reconstructions.


METHODS
A magnetic resonance imaging volumetric study of MCI subgroups (MCI, amnesic subtype [MCI-A]; and MCI, multiple cognitive domain subtype) using 3-dimensional mesh reconstructions of the structure.


METHODS
Referral dementia clinic.


METHODS
Twenty-six subjects with MCI (MCI-A, n = 6; and MCI, multiple cognitive domain subtype, n = 20), 20 subjects with AD, and 20 controls who were equivalent in age, education, and sex distributions.


METHODS
Three-dimensional parametric mesh models of the hippocampus and total hippocampal volumes.


RESULTS
The hippocampi of the patients with AD were significantly atrophic relative to those of the healthy controls. The MCI, multiple cognitive domain subtype, group did not differ from the controls, yet was significantly different from the MCI-A and the AD groups. The MCI-A patients had significant hippocampal atrophy compared with the controls, and did not differ significantly from the patients with AD.


CONCLUSIONS
These data add to the growing evidence that there are multiple forms of MCI, that they have distinct neuropathological correlates, and that MCI, multiple cognitive domain subtype, is not a more advanced form of the MCI-A subtype.
Becker
James T
JT
Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. beckerjt@upmc.edu
Davis
Simon W
SW
Hayashi
Kiralee M
KM
Meltzer
Carolyn Cidis
CC
Toga
Arthur W
AW
Lopez
Oscar L
OL
Thompson
Paul M
PM
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests