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Ventricular dilatation and brain atrophy of normal elderly individuals and patients with Alzheimer‐type dementia: A retrospective longitudinal computed tomographic study of autopsy cases
Author(s) -
Yamada Shigeo,
Asano Tetsuichi,
Enomoto Mutsuo,
Sakata Masuhiro,
Tanno Munehiko,
Yamada Hideo,
Esaki Yukiyoshi,
Mizutani Toshio
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
neuropathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.701
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1440-1789
pISSN - 0919-6544
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1789.1998.tb00113.x
Subject(s) - atrophy , autopsy , medicine , dementia , cerebral atrophy , cardiology , alzheimer's disease , retrospective cohort study , pathology , disease
A retrospective longitudinal study of autopsy cases was performed in order to investigate the time course of ventricular dilatation and brain atrophy in normal individuals and patients with Alzheimer‐type dementia (ATD) subjects over 70 years of age. The brains of eight non‐demented individuals with no neurological or psychiatric illness (normal subjects, aged between 73 and 91 years), and the brains of seven ATD subjects (aged 68–96 years) were studied. The clinical records, including computed tomographic (CT) films, and autopsy findings were examined to eliminate subjects with conditions other than ATD. The rate of ventricular dilatation and brain atrophy was determined by volumetric measurement using serial CT films. Alzheimer‐type dementia was diagnosed on the basis of clinical findings, the presence of laminar cortical degeneration of the medial temporal cortex, and the density of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Ventricular dilatation was not detected in the normal subjects but was detected in the ATD patients during the follow‐up period. Brain atrophy was detected in both groups of subjects. However, the mean rate of brain atrophy of the ATD subjects was four times greater than that in the normal subjects. In addition, brain atrophy was accompanied by ventricular dilatation in all of the ATD patients, but was not evident in six of the eight normal subjects. Thus, the rate of ventricular dilatation was correlated with that of brain atrophy in the ATD patients, but not in the normal subjects. These results show that after 70 years of age: (i) the ventricular dilatation in normal subjects probably does not progress; (ii) brain atrophy in most normal subjects may continue; and (iii) rapidly progressive brain atrophy with ventricular dilatation is probably a common characteristic of ATD patients.