VOLUMETRIC AND VISUAL ASSESSMENT OF THE MESIAL TEMPORAL STRUCTURES INALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Background: Alzheimer's disease is the commonest cause of dementia. Cl inical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease may be difficult. Magnetic res onance imaging has a role to play in diagnosis. Aim: To assess whether volumetric and/or visual assessment of the mesial temporal structures is useful in separating patients with Alzheimer's disease from age ma tched controls. Methods: Twenty-four patients with Alzheimer's disease diagnosed by NINCDS/ADRDA criteria and 15 age matched controls were s tudied with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volumetric techniques . Segmented volumes of the mesial temporal structures were assessed vi sually and volumetrically. Results: Volumetric analysis demonstrated s ignificant (p<.001) differences between the two groups, but showed ove rlap in individual cases. Discriminant function analysis predicted cor rect group membership (patient or control) in 85% of cases. Visual ass essment alone demonstrated a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 9 3% in distinguishing the Alzheimer patients from controls. Conclusion: Volumetric and visual assessment of the mesial temporal structures is useful in separating Alzheimer patients from controls. Overlap is pre sent in individual cases. Visual assessment was as useful in separatin g the two groups as the volumetric analysis.