Abstract
According to recent criteria, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represents a clinical condition with multiple cognitive presentations (amnesic and non amnesic) that can be supported by different types of brain lesions (mainly vascular and atrophic). In order to asses if the cognitive presentation and the rate of progression differ according to the type of brain pathology, two populations of MCI patients, characterized by hippocampal atrophy (n: 39) and vascular subcortical pathology (n: 36) respectively, on the basis of MRI findings, were investigated. Patients underwent an extensive neuropsychological test battery twice (at baseline and at two years follow-up), which is made up of the MMSE and various tests of episodic memory, short-term memory, visual-spatial abilities, executive functions, language, attention, praxis and psychomotor speed. Atrophic and vascular MCI patients showed a remarkably different pattern of impairment at the baseline. The former were significantly more impaired in episodic memory tasks. The latter were more impaired in an action naming task. At the follow up examination, the rate of progression to dementia was higher in atrophic (14/39) than in vascular (5/36) MCI patients. The comparison between neuropsychological scores obtained at the baseline and at the followup showed that atrophic MCI patients underwent a severe decline in several cognitive domains, whereas vascular MCI patients showed a significant decline only in those tasks requiring executive abilities. Our results confirm that a selective and severe defect of episodic memory is associated with hippocampal atrophy and that MCI patients with atrophic lesions are more likely to convert to Alzheimers type dementia while MCI patients with vascular lesions are characterized by a slight decline in executive function over time and by a tendency to develop probable vascular forms of dementia.
Keywords: Mild cognitive impairment, Vascular dementia, Alzheimer dementia, Hippocampal atrophy, Subcortical vascular lesions, Alzheimer's disease, Periventricular hyper-intensities, Deep white matter hyper-intensities, Dementia, Memory, Executive functions, MRI, Neuropsychology
Current Alzheimer Research
Title: Patterns of Cognitive Decline and Rates of Conversion to Dementia in Patients with Degenerative and Vascular forms of MCI
Volume: 8 Issue: 1
Author(s): Camillo Marra, Monica Ferraccioli, Maria Gabriella Vita, Davide Quaranta and Guido Gainotti
Affiliation:
Keywords: Mild cognitive impairment, Vascular dementia, Alzheimer dementia, Hippocampal atrophy, Subcortical vascular lesions, Alzheimer's disease, Periventricular hyper-intensities, Deep white matter hyper-intensities, Dementia, Memory, Executive functions, MRI, Neuropsychology
Abstract: According to recent criteria, Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) represents a clinical condition with multiple cognitive presentations (amnesic and non amnesic) that can be supported by different types of brain lesions (mainly vascular and atrophic). In order to asses if the cognitive presentation and the rate of progression differ according to the type of brain pathology, two populations of MCI patients, characterized by hippocampal atrophy (n: 39) and vascular subcortical pathology (n: 36) respectively, on the basis of MRI findings, were investigated. Patients underwent an extensive neuropsychological test battery twice (at baseline and at two years follow-up), which is made up of the MMSE and various tests of episodic memory, short-term memory, visual-spatial abilities, executive functions, language, attention, praxis and psychomotor speed. Atrophic and vascular MCI patients showed a remarkably different pattern of impairment at the baseline. The former were significantly more impaired in episodic memory tasks. The latter were more impaired in an action naming task. At the follow up examination, the rate of progression to dementia was higher in atrophic (14/39) than in vascular (5/36) MCI patients. The comparison between neuropsychological scores obtained at the baseline and at the followup showed that atrophic MCI patients underwent a severe decline in several cognitive domains, whereas vascular MCI patients showed a significant decline only in those tasks requiring executive abilities. Our results confirm that a selective and severe defect of episodic memory is associated with hippocampal atrophy and that MCI patients with atrophic lesions are more likely to convert to Alzheimers type dementia while MCI patients with vascular lesions are characterized by a slight decline in executive function over time and by a tendency to develop probable vascular forms of dementia.
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Marra Camillo, Ferraccioli Monica, Gabriella Vita Maria, Quaranta Davide and Gainotti Guido, Patterns of Cognitive Decline and Rates of Conversion to Dementia in Patients with Degenerative and Vascular forms of MCI, Current Alzheimer Research 2011; 8 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156720511794604552
DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/156720511794604552 |
Print ISSN 1567-2050 |
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher |
Online ISSN 1875-5828 |
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