Scientific article
English

T1- or T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging: what is the best choice to evaluate atrophy of the hippocampus?

Published inEuropean journal of neurology, vol. 25, no. 5, p. 775-781
Publication date2018-05
First online date2018-03-09
Abstract

Background and purpose: Magnetic resonance imaging is part of the diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) through the evaluation of hippocampal atrophy. The objective of this study was to evaluate which sequence of T1-weighted (T1WI) and T2-weighted (T2WI) imaging allowed the best visual evaluation of hippocampal atrophy.

Methods: Visual qualitative ratings of the hippocampus of 100 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 50 patients with AD were made independently by four operators according to the medial temporal lobe atrophy score based either on T1WI or T2WI. These two evaluations were compared in terms of interobserver reproducibility, concordance with a quantitative volumetric measure, discrimination power between AD and MCI groups, and correlation with several neuropsychological tests.

Results: The medial temporal lobe atrophy score evaluated on either T1WI or T2WI exhibited similar interobserver variability and accordance with quantitative volumetric evaluation. However, the visual evaluation on T2WI seemed to provide better discrimination power between AD and MCI groups for both left (T1WI, P = 0.0001; T2WI, P = 7.072 × 10-5) and right (T1WI, P = 0.008; T2WI, P = 0.001) hippocampus, and a higher overall correlation with neuropsychological tests.

Conclusions: The present study suggests that T2WI provides a more adequate visual rating of hippocampal atrophy.

Keywords
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Cohort study
  • Geriatric
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • Memory
  • Mild cognitive impairment
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / diagnostic imaging
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology
  • Alzheimer Disease / psychology
  • Atrophy / diagnostic imaging
  • Atrophy / pathology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / diagnostic imaging
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / pathology
  • Cognitive Dysfunction / psychology
  • Female
  • Hippocampus / diagnostic imaging
  • Hippocampus / pathology
  • Humans
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
  • Male
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Reproducibility of Results
Citation (ISO format)
FISCHBACH-BOULANGER, C et al. T1- or T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging: what is the best choice to evaluate atrophy of the hippocampus? In: European journal of neurology, 2018, vol. 25, n° 5, p. 775–781. doi: 10.1111/ene.13601
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1351-5101
102views
0downloads

Technical informations

Creation09/01/2024 15:10:37
First validation09/04/2024 15:44:28
Update time09/04/2024 15:44:28
Status update09/04/2024 15:44:28
Last indexation01/11/2024 09:10:42
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack