Age transformation of combined hippocampus and amygdala volume improves diagnostic accuracy in Alzheimer's disease

Harald Hampel, Stefan J. Teipel, Wolfram Bayer, Gene E. Alexander, Robert Schwarz, Mark B. Schapiro, Stanley I. Rapoport, Hans Jürgen Möller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: The specificity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based hippocampal measurements in detecting Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is reduced by an age-related reduction of the hippocampus volume. We propose an adjustment for this age effect to increase the diagnostic accuracy of hippocampal volumes in AD. Method: Using an orthogonal rotational transformation of the coordinate system, values of MRI-determined volumes of hippocampus-amygdala formation (HAF) were transformed according to the age effect in 27 AD patients and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. Results: The age transformation increased the diagnostic accuracy of HAF volumes in the study sample and in an independent sample from the literature. The age-transformed HAF volume predicted AD in a subject with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with later biopsy-confirmed AD. Conclusion: Age transformation may provide an easily applicable method to increase the clinical diagnostic accuracy of hippocampal measurements by considering the effect of aging on hippocampus volume.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)15-19
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of the Neurological Sciences
Volume194
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 15 2002

Keywords

  • Age-transformation
  • Alzheimer's disease
  • Diagnosis
  • Discriminant analysis
  • Hippocampus
  • Magnetic resonance imaging
  • ROC analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neurology
  • Clinical Neurology

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