TEMPORAL-LOBE REGIONS ON MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IDENTIFY PATIENTSWITH EARLY ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

Objective.-The goal of the study was to examine the volume of selected brain regions in a group of mildly impaired patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Five regions were selected for analysis, all of which h ave been reported to show substantial change in the majority of patien ts with AD at some time in the course of disease. Design.-Case-control study with the experimenter ''blinded.'' Setting.-Hospital-based magn etic resonance imaging center. Participants.-Fifteen subjects, eight p atients with the diagnosis of probable dementia of the Alzheimer type made in concordance with National Institute of Neurological and Commun icative Diseases and Stroke/Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria and seven age-matched healthy control subjects. R esults.-Three of the volumetric measures were significantly different between patients with AD and controls: the hippocampus, the temporal h orn of the lateral ventricles, and the temporal lobe. Two of the measu res did not significantly differentiate patients with AD and controls: the amygdala and the basal forebrain. A discriminant function analysi s demonstrated that a linear combination of the volumes of the hippoca mpus and the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles differentiated 10 0% of the patients and controls from one another. Conclusions.-The res ults suggest that the hippocampus and the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles may be useful as antemortem markers of AD in mildly impair ed patients.