Measurement of whole temporal lobe and hippocampus for MR volumetry: normative data

We measured the volumes of the entire length of temporal lobe and hippocampal formation from coronal images in 29 healthy young adults to take into account normal side-to-side variation. Although whole-brain, temporal lobe, and left hippocampal volumes were significantly smaller in women, normalizing measurements for the whole brain eliminated intersex temporal lobe and hippocampal differences. There was a weak but significant inverse correlation between age and normalized hippocampal, but not temporal lobe or whole-brain, volume. In contrast to previous studies, we found no significant side-to-side differences in the sizes of temporal lobes or hippocampi. When performing MR volumetry, it is important to include the entire length of the hippocampal formation.