THE ROLE OF MORPHO-VOLUMETRIC AND MEMORY CORRELATIONS IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF EARLY ALZHEIMER DEMENTIA

The aim of the present study was to assess selective atrophy of the te mporal lobe and amygdala in the early stages of Alzheimer dementia (AD ), Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements and the presence of h ighsignal lesions (HSL) were analysed in 31 patients with mild to mode rate probable AD and 22 controls. In the AD group, MRI findings were c ompared with cognitive variables and specific features of memory funct ions. Alzheimer patients showed a significant reduction in volumetric measurement compared with controls in the total volume (P < 0.01), tem poral lobe (P < 0.01) and amygdala (P < 0.05). The temporal lobe/brain volume ratio was also significantly reduced in AD subjects (P < 0.05) , Atrophy of temporal structures was significantly related to the degr ee of episodic and semantic memory impairment according to a material- specific effect. No significant correlations between amygdala and cogn itive variables were found. The results of our study confirm the usefu lness of measures of temporal lobe atrophy assessed with MRI in the di agnosis of AD. In contrast, HSL are relatively common in AD patients ( 12/31 cases) and were not related to volumetric findings, severity of dementia or functional disability.