Neuropathologic features of amnestic mild cognitive impairment.
BACKGROUND
The neuropathologic substrate of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is not known.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the neuropathologic features of patients who died while their clinical classification was aMCI.


METHODS
Cohort study.


METHODS
Community based.


METHODS
Sixty-six individuals, including 15 who had memory impairment beyond that allowed for aging but who were not demented, were studied along with 28 clinically healthy individuals and 23 patients with probable Alzheimer disease (AD) for comparison.


METHODS
Standard neuropathologic techniques and classification according to Khachaturian, Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease, and National Institute on Aging-Reagan criteria were used to analyze autopsy tissue from 15 individuals who died while their clinical diagnosis was aMCI. For comparison, autopsy data on age-matched groups of clinically healthy individuals and patients with probable AD were analyzed.


RESULTS
Most patients with aMCI did not meet the neuropathologic criteria for AD, but their pathologic findings suggest a transitional state of evolving AD. All the patients with aMCI had pathologic findings involving medial temporal lobe structures, likely accounting for their memory impairment. In addition, there were many concomitant pathologic abnormalities, including argyrophilic grain disease, hippocampal sclerosis, and vascular lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
The neuropathologic features of aMCI matched the clinical features and seemed to be intermediate between the neurofibrillary changes of aging and the pathologic features of very early AD.
Petersen
Ronald C
RC
Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. peter8@mayo.edu
Parisi
Joseph E
JE
Dickson
Dennis W
DW
Johnson
Kris A
KA
Knopman
David S
DS
Boeve
Bradley F
BF
Jicha
Gregory A
GA
Ivnik
Robert J
RJ
Smith
Glenn E
GE
Tangalos
Eric G
EG
Braak
Heiko
H
Kokmen
Emre
E