Hippocampal volume measurement in patients with Ménière's disease: a pilot study.
CONCLUSIONS
No signs of chronic stress as in hippocampal atrophy were present in patients with Ménière's disease.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of chronic stress (allostatic load) by measuring hippocampal volume in patients with Ménière's disease.


METHODS
Ten patients with Meniere's disease and 10 healthy controls were evaluated for absolute and relative hippocampal volumes measured on MRI scans, saliva cortisol levels and frequency of daily stressors. The study was performed in a prospective, controlled setting with two raters who were blinded as to subject identity.


RESULTS
Saliva cortisol levels and presence of daily stressor scores were similar in both groups. The first rater measured mean hippocampal volumes of 2.80 +/- 0.36 cm3 vs 3.15 +/- 0.52 cm3 (right) and 2.49 +/- 0.32 cm3 vs 3.06 +/- 0.46 cm3 (left), for the Ménière's disease and control group, respectively. The second rater measured 3.44 +/- 0.35 cm3 vs 3.60 +/- 0.52 cm3 (right) and 3.00 +/- 0.40 cm3 vs 3.42 +/- 0.45 cm3 (left), respectively. The volume of the left hippocampus was significantly smaller in patients with Ménière's disease compared with the controls for both raters (p < 0.05) and the right hippocampal volume was not different between the two groups. With correction for variation in head size (partial brain and partial intracranial volume) no significant differences in relative hippocampal volumes were observed between patients with Ménière's disease and the control group.
Van Cruijsen
Nynke
N
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. n.van.cruijsen@kno.umcg.nl
Hiemstra
Wilma M
WM
Meiners
Linda C
LC
Wit
Hero P
HP
Albers
Frans W J
FW
D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008575:Meniere Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry
D006854:Hydrocortisone