The Amnestic Syndrome of Hippocampal type in Alzheimer's Disease: An MRI Study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Sarazin, Marie^{a; b; *;} | Chauviré, Valérie^{a; c;} | Gerardin, Emilie^d | Colliot, Olivier^d | Kinkingnéhun, Serge^{a; g} | de Souza, Leonardo Cruz^{a; b} | Hugonot-Diener, Laurence^a | Garnero, Line^d | Lehéricy, Stéphane^{a; e; f} | Chupin, Marie^d; | Dubois, Bruno^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] CRICM UPMC Inserm UMR 975 Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France | [b] Research and Resource Memory Centre, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France | [c] Research and Resource Memory Centre, University Hospital, rue Larrey, France | [d] Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Imaging Laboratory, CNRS UPR 640-LENA, UPMC Univ Paris, France | [e] Neuroradiology, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris, France | [f] Center for NeuroImaging Research -- CENIR, Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France | [g] e(ye)BRAIN, 3 bis rue Maurice Grandcoing, France

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Marie Sarazin, Fédération des maladies du Système Nerveux, Research and Resource Memory Centre, Pavillon Paul Castaigne, Hôpital de la Salpôtrière, 47 Bd de l'Hôpital, 75013 Paris, France. Tel.: +33 1 42 16 19 86; Fax: +33 1 42 16 27 39; E-mail: marie.sarazin@psl.aphp.fr.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally.

Note: [] Handling Associate Editor: Eric Salmon

Abstract: The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT) is a verbal episodic memory test used to identify patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study investigates the relationships between performance on FCSRT and grey matter atrophy assessed with structural MRI in patients with AD. Three complementary MRI-based analyses (VBM analysis, ROI-based analysis, and three-dimensional hippocampal surface-based shape analysis) were performed in 35 patients with AD to analyze correlations between regional atrophy and their scores for episodic memory using the FCSRT. With VBM analysis, the total score on the FCSRT was correlated with left medial temporal lobe atrophy including the left hippocampus but also the thalami. In addition, using ROI-based analysis, the total recall score on the FCSRT was correlated with the left hippocampal volume. With three-dimensional hippocampal surface-based shape analysis, both free recall and total recall scores were correlated with regions corresponding approximately to the CA1 field. No correlation was found with short term memory scores using any of these methods of analysis. In AD, the FCSRT may be considered as a useful clinical marker of memory disorders due to medial temporal damage, specially the CA1 field of the hippocampus.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, assessment of cognitive disorders/dementia, cognitive neuropsychology in dementia, memory, MRI

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-2010-091150

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 285-294, 2010