Corpus Callosum Atrophy and Cognitive Decline in Early Alzheimer's Disease: Longitudinal MRI Study

• Published in: Dementia and geriatric cognitive disorders Vol. 37; no. 3-4; pp. 214 - 222
• Main Authors: Zhu, Minwei, Wang, Xudong, Gao, Wenpeng, Shi, Chen, Ge, Haitao, Shen, Hong, Lin, Zhiguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland Karger 01.01.2014; S. Karger AG
• Subjects: Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Age of Onset; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Alzheimer Disease - pathology; Atrophy - pathology; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition Disorders - pathology; Corpus Callosum - pathology; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Disease Progression; Female; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Nervous system; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Organic mental disorders. Neuropsychology; Original Research Article; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Atrophy; Cognitive decline; Magnetic resonance imaging; Alzheimer's disease; Corpus callosum; Nervous system diseases; Cognitive disorder; Alzheimer disease; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Cerebral disorder; Central nervous system disease; decline; Medical imagery; Degenerative disease; Cognitive
• ISSN: 1420-8008; 1421-9824
• DOI: 10.1159/000350410

Background: We investigated the rate of corpus callosum (CC) atrophy and its association with cognitive decline in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: We used publicly available longitudinal MRI data corresponding to 2 or more visits from 137 subjects characterized using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score. We classified these subjects into 3 groups according to the progression of their cognitive status: a healthy control group (CDR 0→0, n = 72), a decliner group (CDR 0→0.5, n = 14) and an AD group (CDR 0.5→0.5/1, n = 51). We measured the CC area on the midsagittal plane and calculated the atrophy rate between 2 or more visits. The correlation between the CC atrophy rate and annualized Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) change was also analyzed. Results: The results indicated that the baseline CC area was larger in the healthy control group compared to the AD group, whereas the CC atrophy rate was higher in the AD group relative to the control and decliner groups. The CC atrophy rate was also correlated with the annualized MMSE change in AD patients (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Callosal atrophy is present even in early AD and subsequently accelerates, such that the rate of CC atrophy is associated with cognitive decline in AD patients.