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IC‐P‐151: Atrophy of nucleus lentiformis and thalamus in both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia: The Honolulu‐Asia Aging Study
Author(s) -
Jong Laura W.,
White L.R.,
Buchem M.A.,
Launer L.J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2009.05.124
Subject(s) - putamen , atrophy , dementia , basal ganglia , thalamus , vascular dementia , psychology , medicine , alzheimer's disease , pathology , neuroscience , disease , central nervous system
Background: Atrophy of the putamen and thalamus occurs in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) [de Jong L.W., van der Hiele K., et.al.(2008)]. Although several areas in the brain have shown atrophy in both AD and vascular dementia (VaD), it is not known whether atrophy of basal ganglia and thalamus is also present in VaD. Methods: Study subjects were Japanese American men (b 1900-1919) who participated in the Honolulu Asia Aging Study (HAAS), described in detail elsewhere [White L.R., Petrovitch H., et. al.(2002)]. A 3D oblique SPGR was acquired on a 1.5 T MRI system in a subsample (n1⁄4 575) of the cohort. This included cases of pure AD (n1⁄4 43), VaD (n1⁄4 19), mixed vascular and AD type (n1⁄4 21), and subjects with normal cognitive testresults (n1⁄4 334). Automated segmentation of the deep grey matter structures of these subjects was performed using FIRST from FSL [Patenaude B. (2007)]. The volumes of the basal ganglia and thalamus of non-demented subjects were compared to the three dementia groups. To compare the volumes we used a General Linear Model, adjusted for age and head size. Results: We found significantly lower volumes for the n. accumbens (p <0.001) and thalamus (p <0.02) in all three dementia groups, compared to the non-demented group. Compared to the non-dementia group the volume of the putamen was significantly lower in AD (p1⁄40.002) and mixed type dementia (p1⁄4 0.003) and the pallidal volume in AD (p1⁄4 0.032) and VaD (p1⁄4 0.004). Conclusions: In AD, VaD, and mixed type of dementia, atrophy of the basal ganglia and thalamus occurs. Further research is needed to determine whether this atrophy is due to different or shared underlying pathology.