Hippocampal volumes in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease with and without dementia, and in vascular dementia

• DOI: 10.1212/wnl.46.3.678
• Publication Date: 2012-05-13T13:18:45Z
• Authors: M. P. Laakso; K. Partanen; P. Riekkinen; M. Lehtovirta; E.-L. Helkala; M. Hallikainen; T. Hanninen; P. Vainio; H. Soininen
• Keywords: Vascular dementia

Hippocampal atrophy detected by volumetric MRI is a sensitive feature of early Alzheimer's disease (AD), but there are no studies evaluating hippocampal MR volumetry in other dementing diseases. We therefore compared volumes total 113 subjects: 50 patients with mild to moderate AD, 9 vascular dementia (VaD), 12 idiopathic Parkinson's (PD) without dementia, 8 PD and (PDD), 34 elderly control subjects. Thin, coronal, contiguous images were obtained 1.5-T imager. All patient groups had significantly smaller the hippocampus group. In PDD group, absolute even than AD diminished lesser significant extent. The VaD group varied: nine patients, two atrophy, three unilateral, four bilateral atrophy. postulate that does not seem be specific phenomenon also occurs PDD, when present. However, coexistence pathology our cannot ruled out. Further access neuropathologic data needed.