Regions of atrophy that correlate with cognitive impairment in subtypes of dementia
Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine regions of volume loss in the different subtypes of dementia to find novel biomarkers for diagnosis of the disease in vivo.
Methods: Sixty-three computed tomography (CT) scans of patients with diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n=17), Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n=15), vascular cognitive impairment (VCI, n=21) and vascular dementia (VaD, n=10) were obtained from the memory disorders clinic at St Michael’s Hospital, Toronto. In addition to cognitive evaluation carried out using the Behavioural Neurology Assessment (BNA), all patients underwent a CT scan. Linear measurements were performed to assess degree and location of atrophy and then correlated with the BNA.
Results: Patients with MCI showed significant loss of volume in the temporal horn (p<0.01), suprasellar cistern (p<0.05) and frontal (p<0.05) regions which correlated with declining memory. Patients with AD displayed significant loss of temporal horn volume (p<0.01) and third ventricle regions (p<0.05), which correlated with memory loss. Patients with VCI displayed decreased volume in the suprasellar cistern (p<0.01), bicaudate (p< 0.05) and third ventricle (p<0.05) regions, which correlated with memory loss. Similar correlations in the suprasellar cistern (p<0.01) and bicaudate (p<0.05) regions were found in VaD, in addition to volume loss in frontal (p<0.05) regions, which correlated with declining executive function.
Conclusion: Although the pattern of atrophy seen with MCI and AD patients was as expected, new regions of volume loss were found in patients with VCI. The existence of atrophy in the bicaudate region is a novel finding for this diagnosis, as atrophy was previously suspected in more frontal regions. This implies that volume loss in the bicaudate region can be used as a biomarker when correlated with memory to predict conversion from VCI to VaD.
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The original article is available at http://www.rcsismj.com/ Part of the RCSIsmj collection: https://doi.org/10.25419/rcsi.c.6773520.v1Published Citation
Tabish J. Regions of atrophy that correlate with cognitive impairment in subtypes of dementia. RCSIsmj. 2014;7(1):14-19Publication Date
2014Department/Unit
- Undergraduate Research
Publisher
RCSI University of Medicine and Health SciencesVersion
- Published Version (Version of Record)