The role of MR morphometry of hippocampal subfields in the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment of various origins

Cognitive impairment is a global medical and social problem, with a high prevalence in the population and a rapid increase in the incidence due to an increase in the number and life expectancy of older people. Currently, it is especially relevant to identify such causes of cognitive impairment as neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases at the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and even preclinical stages. The most common types of predementia are amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI). The hippocampus plays an important role in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and consists of anatomically and functionally distinct subfields. however, at present, the features of atrophy of its subfields in MCI have not been studied enough. The aim of the study was to clarify the changes in the volumes of the hippocampus and its subfields using the example of MCI of various genesis in comparison with normal age-related aging. Three groups of 20 people were examined: patients with a MCI, patients with sv MCI and the control group. The paper analyzes the data of MRI morphometry of the hippocampal subfields in patients with aMCI and svMCI and compares them with normal age-related aging. Significant differences were found between the group of patients with aMCI and the control group, mainly in the volume of subiculum, presubiculum, molecular layer of the hippocampus, CA1 and CA4; between the group of patients with svMCI and the control group in the volume of subiculum, right presubiculum, molecular layer of the hippocampus, dentate gyrus and CA4. In contrast to svMCI, in aMCI, there is a significant decrease in the volume of the left subiculum by 21 %, the right subiculum, the left presubiculum and the molecular layer of the left hippocampus by 19 %, and the left CA4 by 17 %. The obtained data suggest that hippocampal subfields atrophy are determined already at the stages of aMCI and svMCI, and the distribution patterns of atrophy of the hippocampal subfields can be used for the differential diagnosis of MCI of various genesis.

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