HIPPOCAMPAL PATHOLOGY REFLECTS MEMORY DEFICIT AND BRAIN IMAGING MEASUREMENTS IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE - CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL CORRELATIONS USING3 SETS OF PATHOLOGICAL DIAGNOSTIC-CRITERIA

Neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), neuritic plaques and amyloid load were quantified in sections of the hippocampus at the level of the lateral geniculate body in 41 consecutive cases fulfilling pathological criter ia for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and coming to autopsy aft er longitudinal study during life. A strong correlation was found betw een NFT density in the hippocampus and cognitive impairment scores obt ained shortly before death, particularly with scores of memory impairm ent. Weaker and less consistent correlations were found for hippocampa l neuritic plaques and amyloid load with cognitive/memory deficits. No significant correlations were found between hippocampal pathology and either age of onset or disease duration. All three measures of hippoc ampal pathology were inversely correlated with the minimum medial temp oral lobe (MTL) width, a measure of the MTL atrophy made from temporal -lobe-oriented X-ray computed tomography scans performed during life; the strongest correlation being between atrophy of the MTL and NFT den sity in the hippocampus.