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Hippocampal damage and memory impairment in congenital cyanotic heart disease
Author(s) -
MuñozLópez Mónica,
Hoskote Aparna,
Chadwick Martin J.,
Dzieciol Anna M.,
Gadian David G.,
Chong Kling,
Banks Tina,
de Haan Michelle,
Baldeweg Torsten,
Mishkin Mortimer,
VarghaKhadem Faraneh
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
hippocampus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.767
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1098-1063
pISSN - 1050-9631
DOI - 10.1002/hipo.22700
Subject(s) - hippocampal formation , memory impairment , cohort , psychology , episodic memory , atrophy , neuroscience , audiology , medicine , cognition
Neonatal hypoxia can lead to hippocampal atrophy, which can lead, in turn, to memory impairment. To test the generalizability of this causal sequence, we examined a cohort of 41 children aged 8‐16, who, having received the arterial switch operation to correct for transposition of the great arteries, had sustained significant neonatal cyanosis but were otherwise neurodevelopmentally normal. As predicted, the cohort had significant bilateral reduction of hippocampal volumes relative to the volumes of 64 normal controls. They also had significant, yet selective, impairment of episodic memory as measured by standard tests of memory, despite relatively normal levels of intelligence, academic attainment, and verbal fluency. Across the cohort, degree of memory impairment was correlated with degree of hippocampal atrophy suggesting that even as early as neonatal life no other structure can fully compensate for hippocampal injury and its special role in serving episodic long term memory. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.