Reduced brain volume may indicate dementia

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new study suggests that those who have a reduced volume of specific parts of the brain are more likely to go on to develop dementia over the next six years.
There has long been a search for more accurate ways of diagnosing dementia at an early stage. Now a team at Erasmus Medical Center in The Netherlands reports on an imaging study that looks promising.

They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure brain volumes in 511 individuals initially free of dementia. They screened them over a follow up time between 1997 and 2003, after initial visits in 1995 and 1996. During this time, 35 developed dementia, of whom 26 had Alzheimer's disease.

Those with severe wasting away - or atrophy - of the amygdala and hippocampus had the highest risk of developing dementia. Put simply, the amygdala is concerned with emotion, the hippocampus with memory and learning. These volume reductions were between 25 to 40 per cent. The findings suggest that structural brain imaging can be a valuable tool in the diagnosis of dementia. However, additional tests are needed as brain atrophy on its own does not mean that someone will develop dementia.

Source
Archives of General Psychiatry January 2006 Volume 63 pages 57-62

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