Correlations between antemortem hippocampal volume and postmortem neuropathology in AD subjects

Antemortem measures of hippocampal volume have been used to distinguish subjects with and without probable Alzheimer disease (AD). However, relatively little information is available about how well such antemortem measures correlate with postmortem measures of disease in AD subjects. In this study, antemortem magnetic resonance scans were collected from 10 subjects with probable AD and 3 nondemented controls who later came to autopsy. Significant correlations were observed between antemortem hippocampal volumes and both dementia severity and the density of hippocampal neurofibrillary tangles at autopsy. Total cerebral volumes, in contrast, were significantly correlated with the density of hippocampal senile plaques. The data suggest that hippocampal volume assessed in living subjects with probable AD is both a good marker of dementia severity and of an underlying element of the AD disease process.