title: Corpus callosum atrophy and cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease: longitudinal MRI study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We investigated the rate of corpus callosum (CC) atrophy and its association with cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used publicly available longitudinal MRI data corresponding to 2 or more visits from 137 subjects characterized using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score. We classified these subjects into 3 groups according to the progression of their cognitive status: a healthy control group (CDR 0→0, n = 72), a decliner group (CDR 0→0.5, n = 14) and an AD group (CDR 0.5→0.5/1, n = 51). We measured the CC area on the midsagittal plane and calculated the atrophy rate between 2 or more visits. The correlation between the CC atrophy rate and annualized Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) change was also analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that the baseline CC area was larger in the healthy control group compared to the AD group, whereas the CC atrophy rate was higher in the AD group relative to the control and decliner groups. The CC atrophy rate was also correlated with the annualized MMSE change in AD patients (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Callosal atrophy is present even in early AD and subsequently accelerates, such that the rate of CC atrophy is associated with cognitive decline in AD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, PR China.
authors.forename: Minwei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Xudong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wenpeng
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests