title: Hippocampal subfield volumetry in mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and semantic dementia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hippocampal atrophy is a well-known feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but sensitivity and specificity of hippocampal volumetry are limited. Neuropathological studies have shown that hippocampal subfields are differentially vulnerable to AD; hippocampal subfield volumetry may thus prove to be more accurate than global hippocampal volumetry to detect AD.
  
  
  METHODS
  CA1, subiculum and other subfields were manually delineated from 40 healthy controls, 18 AD, 17 amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), and 8 semantic dementia (SD) patients using a previously developed high resolution MRI procedure. Non-parametric group comparisons and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted. Complementary analyses were conducted to evaluate differences of hemispheric asymmetry and anterior-predominance between AD and SD patients and to distinguish aMCI patients with or without β-amyloid deposition as assessed by Florbetapir-TEP.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Global hippocampi were atrophied in all three patient groups and volume decreases were maximal in the CA1 subfield (22% loss in aMCI, 27% in both AD and SD; all p < 0.001). In aMCI, CA1 volumetry was more accurate than global hippocampal measurement to distinguish patients from controls (areas under the ROC curve = 0.88 and 0.76, respectively; p = 0.05) and preliminary analyses suggest that it was independent from the presence of β-amyloid deposition. In patients with SD, whereas the degree of CA1 and subiculum atrophy was similar to that found in AD patients, hemispheric and anterior-posterior asymmetry were significantly more marked than in AD with greater involvement of the left and anterior hippocampal subfields.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that CA1 measurement is more sensitive than global hippocampal volumetry to detect structural changes at the pre-dementia stage, although the predominance of CA1 atrophy does not appear to be specific to AD pathophysiological processes.
authors.affiliation: INSERM, U1077, Caen, France ; Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, UMR-S1077, Caen, France ; Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, UMR-S1077, Caen, France ; CHU de Caen, U1077, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: La Joie
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Perrotin
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: de La Sayette
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Egret
authors.forename: Loïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Doeuvre
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Belliard
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eustache
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Desgranges
authors.forename: Gaël
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chételat
keywords: AD, Alzheimer's disease; ANOVA, Analysis of variance; AUC, Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve; Alzheimer's disease; Aβ, β-amyloid; CA1; HC, healthy controls; Hippocampal subfields; MRI, Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI); NFT, neurofibrillary tangles; PET, Positon Emission Tomography; ROC, receiver operating characteristic; SUVr, Standardized Uptake Value ratio; Semantic dementia; TIV, Total intracranial volume; aMCI, amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment