The correlation of hippocampal T2-mapping with neuropsychology test in patients with Alzheimer's disease

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 8; no. 9; p. e76203
• Main Authors: Luo, Zhuren, Zhuang, Xiongjie, Kumar, Dushyant, Wu, Xiurong, Yue, Cen, Han, Chengkun, Lv, Jiancheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 30.09.2013; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Aged; Aging; Alzheimer Disease - physiopathology; Alzheimer's disease; Analysis of Variance; Brain; Cognition; Control methods; Correlation; Dementia; Disease control; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - chemistry; Hippocampus - pathology; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Iron; Iron - analysis; Lipid peroxidation; Magnetic fields; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Measuring techniques; Memory; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuroimaging; Neurology; Neuropathology; Neuropsychological Tests; Oxidative stress; Patients; Psychology; Rodents; Sex Factors; Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy; Values; China; Germany
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076203

1) To deduce T2, the inverse of the transverse relaxation rate (R2), in the hippocampus of healthy adults; 2) to investigate the brain iron deposition in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and age-matched healthy controls using T2-values. T2-weighted data from the bilateral-hippocampi of ten AD patients and sixty healthy controls were collected at six echo time points using multi-slice multi-echo turbo spin echo (MSME-TSE) imaging on a 3.0 T MR-scanner, followed by the neuropsychological testing. The correlations between T2-values and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores were investigated on group-wise basis (covariates in the group-wise analyses: gender, age, side and healthy/AD). There were no significant differences in hippocampal T2-values on intra-gender and inter-gender basis (P > 0.05). Hippocampal T2-values of both sides were similar (right: 85.2±2.4 milliseconds; left: 85.3±2.5 milliseconds). The bilateral hippocampal T2 values correlated moderately with age (right: r = -0.59; left: -0.58; P < 0.001). The AD-group had significantly lower T2-values in the hippocampus when compared to normal controls (P < 0.001) and such low T2-values had a strong positive correlation with the MMSE score (R (2) = 0.97; P < 0.05). Patients with AD showed significantly lower T2 values, which can be attributed to the increased iron depositions in the hippocampus. A positive correlation between T2-values and cognition scores suggests that quantitative T2 can be used in the early diagnosis of AD and in the monitoring of the treatment response.