Hippocampal subfield volumes at 7T in early Alzheimer's disease and normal aging

We compared hippocampal subfield and entorhinal cortex (ERC) volumes between patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and controls without cognitive impairment. Additionally, we investigated the relation between age and hippocampal subfields and ERC in controls. We performed ultra-high field 0.7 mm3 7Tesla magnetic resonance imaging in 16 patients with amnestic MCI, 9 with AD, and 29 controls. ERC, subiculum, cornu ammonis (CA)1, CA2, CA3, and dentate gyrus (DG)&CA4 were traced on T2-weighted images. Analyses of covariance, adjusted for age, sex, and intracranial volume showed that compared with controls and patients with MCI, patients with AD had significantly smaller ERC, subiculum, CA1, CA3, and DG&CA4 volumes. Trend analyses revealed similar associations between ERC and hippocampal subfields and diagnostic group. Older age was significantly associated with smaller CA1 and DG&CA4 volumes. In conclusion, almost all hippocampal subfields and ERC show volume reductions in patients with AD compared with controls and patients with MCI. Future, larger studies should determine which subfields are affected earliest in the disease process and what mechanisms underlie the volume loss.