Diagnostic utility of hippocampal size and mean diffusivity in amnestic MCI

Müller, Matthias J.; Greverus, Dirk; Weibrich, Carsten; Dellani, Paulo Roberto; Scheurich, Armin; Stoeter, Peter; Fellgiebel, Andreas

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2006.01.009

« Previous Next »Neurobiology of Aging
Volume 28, Issue 3 , Pages 398-403, March 2007

Diagnostic utility of hippocampal size and mean diffusivity in amnestic MCI

Matthias J. Müller
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, D-55131 Mainz, Germany
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 6131 17 2920; fax: +49 6131 17 2920.
Dirk Greverus
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, D-55131 Mainz, Germany
Carsten Weibrich
- Institute of Neuroradiology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Paulo Roberto Dellani
- Institute of Neuroradiology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Armin Scheurich
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, D-55131 Mainz, Germany
Peter Stoeter
- Institute of Neuroradiology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
Andreas Fellgiebel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Mainz, Untere Zahlbacher Str. 8, D-55131 Mainz, Germany

Received 18 June 2005; received in revised form 5 December 2005; accepted 27 January 2006. published online 13 March 2006.

Abstract

Hippocampus atrophy is a frequent finding in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), whereas diffusion-tensor-imaging (DTI) has demonstrated its value to detect subtle brain tissue changes in several neuropsychiatric diseases including MCI. To compare the diagnostic accuracy of both methods, high resolution MRI scans for hippocampus volumetry, and co-registered DTI-scans for ROI-based mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA) were carried out in 18 patients with amnestic MCI (7 females, age 67.3±8.7 years, MMSE 25.2±2.2) and 18 controls (age 66.9±9.0 years, MMSE 28.7±1.0). Diagnostic properties of normalized hippocampus volume (HV) and DTI measures with regard to MCI status were estimated by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analyses and logistic regression. Parameters of the left hippocampus showed superior predictive power when compared to the right. At a specificity set to 80%, left HV had low sensitivity (50%); left hippocampal MD values revealed superior sensitivity (89%), similar to left hippocampal FA (78%). The results demonstrate higher sensitivity of DTI-derived left hippocampal parameters than volume measures in detecting subtle hippocampal abnormalities related to MCI.