title: Are transversal MR images sufficient to distinguish persons with mild cognitive impairment from healthy controls?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. This study aims to determine whether current standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is providing markers that can distinguish between subjects with amnestic MCI (aMCI), nonamnestic MCI (naMCI), and healthy controls (HCs).
  
  
  METHODS
  A subset of 126 MCI subjects and 126 age-, gender-, and education-appropriate HCs (mean age, 70.9 years) were recruited from 4157 participants in the longitudinal community-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study. The burden of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), cerebral microbleeds, and brain atrophy was evaluated on transversal MR images from a single 1.5-T MR scanner by two blinded neuroradiologists. Logistic regression and receiver-operating characteristic analysis were used for statistical analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Occipital WMH burden was significantly increased in aMCI, but not in naMCI relative to HCs (P = .01). The combined MCI group showed brain atrophy relative to HCs (P = .01) pronounced at caudate nuclei (P = .01) and temporal horn level (P = .004) of aMCI patients and increased at the frontal and occipital horns of naMCI patients compared to either aMCI or HCs. Microbleeds were equally distributed in the MCI and control group, but more frequent in aMCI (22 of 84) compared to naMCI subjects (3 of 23).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In his cohort, increased occipital WMHs and cortical and subcortical brain atrophies at temporal horn and caudate nuclei level distinguished aMCI from naMCI subjects and controls. Volumetric indices appear of interest and should be assessed under reproducible conditions to gain diagnostic accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. Electronic address: christoph.moenninghoff@uk-essen.de.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mönninghoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Martha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dlugaj
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kraff
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Marie Henrike
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Geisel
authors.affiliation: Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Jöckel
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Cardiology, West-German Heart Centre, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erbel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weimar
authors.affiliation: Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Neuroradiology, Swiss Neuro Institute, Clinic Hirslanden, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Wanke
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D059345:Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D056784:Leukoencephalopathies / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
keywords: 1.5 Tesla MRI; ageing and cognition; brain atrophy; mild cognitive impairment; white matter hyperintensities