MRI Measures of Hippocampus in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Patients

OBJECTIVE: In this study we aimed to compare the hippocampal volumes of patients diagnosed as Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Minimal Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and the healthy objects. We also tried to demonstrate whether there was a possible correlation between the cognitive tests and the hippocampal volumes.
METHODS: Minimental State Examination, Adas-Cog and Global Deterioration Scale were administrated to the patients having Alzheimer’s Disease (n=20). We also performed Minimental State Examination, and Adas-Cog to MCI patients (n=20) and Minimental State Examination to the healthy control group (n=18).
Both right and left hippocampal volumes were measured by a three dimensioned Surf Driver programm with the support of cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

RESULTS: Both right and left hippocampal volumes of the Alzheimer’s Disease group were significantly smaller than the MCI and the control groups. Bilaterally hippocampal volumes of MCI group were also smaller than the control group. (Hippocampal volumes; AD < MCI < control groups). The differences between the right and the left hippocampal volumes were not significant in both AD and MCI groups. There were no significant correlations between the cognitive tests and the hippocampal volumes(p>0.05).
CONCLUSION: : Surf Driver method succesfully demonstrated the relative hippocampal atrophy in the AD and the MCI groups when compared with the healthy controls.