MRI FINDINGS OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE IN EARLY STAGE

Abstract

We investigated whether morphological features can be observed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). We classified AD patients into two groups according to mildly (n=12) or moderately (n=12) impairment, and we compared MRI head scans of these patients with scans of normal controls (n=14) with respect to volume of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles and volume of the hippocampus.
Mildly-impaired patients showed a significantly larger volume of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles than normal controls, but there was no difference between these groups in volume of the hippocampus. Moderately-impaired patients showed a significantly smaller hippocampal volume than mildly-impaired patients, but there was no difference between them in the volume of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles. Moderately-impaired patients showed a significantly larger temporal horn of the lateral ventricles and smaller hippocampal volume than normal controls. Thus, we suggest that measurements of the volume of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles is a useful adjunct diagnostic tool in the routine diagnosis of early AD