USEFULNESS OF SIMPLE MEASURES OF TEMPORAL-LOBE ATROPHY IN PROBABLE ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is made on clinical grounds, and the availability of a simple and sensitive quantitative index of the disea se might aid in the routine diagnosis. The aim of this study was to as sess whether linear measures of brain atrophy as detected by magnetic resonance imaging can be helpful in the differentiation of mild to mod erate Alzheimer's disease from nondemented elderly. Measures of global (bifrontal index and interuncal distance) and hippocampal (minimum th ickness of the medial temporal lobe, hippocampal height, width of the choroid fissure, and width of the temporal horn) atrophy were taken fr om 26 cases and 21 controls. Measures of hippocampal atrophy were the most sensitive in the differentiation of cases from controls, and amon g them width of the temporal horn yielded the highest sensitivity, pre dicting the disease in 73% of cases with 95% specificity. A compound m easure comprising width of the temporal horn, width of the choroid fis sure, and hippocampal height increased sensitivity to 85%. These resul ts suggest that selected simple indices of hippocampal atrophy might b e useful in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.