title: Hippocampal degeneration in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: There is increasing appreciation of non-motor system involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), although its full extent and clinical significance remains to be established. This study tested the hypothesis that memory impairment in patients with ALS is related to hippocampal degeneration. Consecutive patients with ALS (58) and 29 matched controls participated in standardized neuropsychological assessment and magnetic resonance imaging. Patients with ALS performed worse in global cognitive functioning and executive and verbal memory tests (p < 0.05). The hippocampus was manually segmented in each hemisphere, and volumes were calculated with correction for intracranial volume. Analysis of covariance, controlled for the effect of age and education years, showed significantly smaller hippocampal volume on the right (p = 0.004) in patients with ALS. Verbal memory test performance correlated with the left hippocampal volume in patients with ALS (p < 0.05), although there was no significant correlation with tests of executive function and clinical variables underscoring the specificity of the present findings. Hippocampal volume loss and its correlation with the severity of verbal memory impairment highlight significant hippocampal involvement which can occur as a non-motor deficit in patients with ALS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany. Electronic address: Abdulla.Susanne@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abdulla
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Machts
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kollewe
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Reinhard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany; Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Jochen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Heinze
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petri
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vielhaber
authors.affiliation: German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Magdeburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Nestor
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000473:pathology; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009929:Organ Size
keywords: ALS; Frontotemporal dementia; Hippocampus atrophy; Hippocampus volumetry; Magnetic resonance imaging; Manual segmentation; Neuropsychology; Verbal memory impairment