Foundas A L, Leonard C M, Mahoney S M, Agee O F, Heilman K M
Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112-2632, USA.
Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol. 1997 Apr;10(2):81-9.
The hippocampus, parietal cortex, and insula were measured on volumetric magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether patients with early Alzheimer's disease had significantly more atrophy than healthy controls. To determine whether the atrophy is limited to certain cortical regions, the striate cortex was measured because this area is not usually neuropathologically involved early in Alzheimer's disease. Eight mildly to moderately impaired patients who met National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease and eight controls who matched for age, gender, and educational level were studied. Atrophy was quantified in the following regions: hippocampus, parietal cortex, insular cortex, and striate cortex. The authors found significantly more atrophy of the hippocampus (p < 0.0001), parietal cortex (p < 0.025), and insula (p < 0.003) in the Alzheimer's patients. Measures of the striate cortex did not differ between the groups. There were no significant left-right differences in any of the regions measured. Their findings show that mildly to moderately impaired Alzheimer's patients have significantly more atrophy of the hippocampus, parietal cortex, and insula than healthy age-matched controls. Furthermore, this atrophy is probably discrete because the groups did not differ on measures of the striate cortex. Selective atrophy of the parietal and insular cortices has not previously been reported using the authors' methodology on volumetric magnetic resonance imaging. Their data suggest that the insula may be involved early in Alzheimer's disease and that atrophy of the insular cortex may contribute to the cognitive deficits typical of early Alzheimer's disease.
通过容积磁共振成像测量海马体、顶叶皮质和脑岛，以确定早期阿尔茨海默病患者的萎缩程度是否显著高于健康对照者。为了确定萎缩是否局限于某些皮质区域，对纹状皮质进行了测量，因为该区域在阿尔茨海默病早期通常不会出现神经病理学改变。研究了8名符合美国国立神经疾病和中风研究所-阿尔茨海默病及相关疾病协会可能的阿尔茨海默病标准的轻度至中度受损患者，以及8名年龄、性别和教育水平相匹配的对照者。对以下区域的萎缩情况进行了量化：海马体、顶叶皮质、脑岛皮质和纹状皮质。作者发现，阿尔茨海默病患者的海马体（p < 0.0001）、顶叶皮质（p < 0.025）和脑岛（p < 0.003）萎缩更为明显。两组之间纹状皮质的测量结果没有差异。在所测量的任何区域中，左右两侧均无显著差异。他们的研究结果表明，轻度至中度受损的阿尔茨海默病患者比年龄匹配的健康对照者的海马体、顶叶皮质和脑岛萎缩更为明显。此外，这种萎缩可能是离散的，因为两组在纹状皮质测量方面没有差异。此前尚未有研究使用作者的容积磁共振成像方法报告顶叶和脑岛皮质的选择性萎缩情况。他们的数据表明，脑岛可能在阿尔茨海默病早期就受到影响，脑岛皮质的萎缩可能导致早期阿尔茨海默病典型的认知缺陷。
