MRI based volumetric analysis of entorhinal cortex in elderly subjects with mild cognitive impairment and in subjects with normal cognition to see effects of aging on volume of ERC

ABSTRACT

Background: MCI is a transitional period between normal ageing and clinically probable early Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD). ERC volumes show early reduction in cases of MCI in comparison to the normal ageing subjects. Early cognitive impairment can be documented with ERC atrophy on MR volumetry. Aim of the study was to evaluate the volume of entorhinal cortex in patients of MCI and  to compared the volume with patients of normal cognition. Secondarily, we studied changes in the volume of entorhinal cortex with increasing ageMethods: In this study 30 patients of 60 years and above with MCI and 30 controls of normal cognition (age and sex matched) underwent brain examination on 3T MRI. Volume of entorhinal cortex was measured on 1 mm thick T1 coronal oblique MR scans by manually tracing the boundaries defined by two widely used methods i.e. Insausti et al and Goncharova et al.Results: Patients with MCI showed 17.2% decline in the entorhinal cortex volume compared to controls (p value = 0.001). Patients of older age showed significantly more ERC volume reduction, reaching up to 30.4% in comparison to younger subjects suggesting atrophy of ERC in normal aging and in MCI both, but more so in patients with cognitive impairment.Conclusions: ERC atrophy was found in MCI cases more than controls, increase atrophy trend was noted with increasing age. MR volumetry may play a role for documentation of ERC atrophy in cases of MCI.