Neuroimaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, FCM, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil.
Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2012;34(3-4):149-55. doi: 10.1159/000342118. Epub 2012 Sep 17.
It is widely known that atrophy of medial temporal structures is present in the mild stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However, structures such as the thalamus and corpus callosum are much less studied.
We compared the volumes of the entorhinal cortex, hippocampus, thalamus and the corpus callosum in 14 controls, 14 patients with mild AD and 15 with aMCI and correlated these volumes with neuropsychological data. MRI was obtained at 2 T followed by manual segmentation.
We found atrophy in hippocampi and thalami of MCI patients compared to controls, and in the bilateral entorhinal cortex of aMCI compared to AD patients. All the structures showed atrophy in AD patients compared to controls, including the corpus callosum.
Our study confirms that thalamic areas are atrophied in aMCI, and the corpus callosum might represent a good structural marker for mild AD. Those areas were associated with cognitive functions already described in the literature.
众所周知，内侧颞叶结构萎缩存在于阿尔茨海默病（AD）的轻度阶段和遗忘型轻度认知障碍（aMCI）中。然而，丘脑和胼胝体等结构的研究要少得多。
我们比较了 14 名对照组、14 名轻度 AD 患者和 15 名 aMCI 患者的内嗅皮层、海马体、丘脑和胼胝体的体积，并将这些体积与神经心理学数据相关联。在 2 T 下进行 MRI 扫描，然后进行手动分割。
我们发现与对照组相比，MCI 患者的海马体和丘脑萎缩，与 AD 患者相比，aMCI 患者的双侧内嗅皮层萎缩。与对照组相比，AD 患者的所有结构都出现萎缩，包括胼胝体。
我们的研究证实，aMCI 患者的丘脑区域也出现萎缩，胼胝体可能是轻度 AD 的良好结构标志物。这些区域与文献中已经描述的认知功能有关。
