MR-tracked hippocampal volume changes can predict which patients with mild cognitive impairment are most likely to develop Alzheimer's disease years before a clinical assessment would do so, according to a study presented in May at the American Society of Neuroradiology meeting.

Dr. Maciek Bobinski, a neuroradiologist at New York University Medical Center, and colleagues enrolled 20 MCI patients and 10 healthy control subjects for three biennial MR assessments.

The baseline measurements showed that all 20 MCI patients had less hippocampal volume than the controls, and the follow-up data parsed the MCI patients even further. The 10 patients who progressed to AD had an average baseline hippocampal volume of 21% less than that of the controls. The 10 patients who remained stable had an average baseline hippocampal volume of 10% less than that of the controls. This pattern remained consistent with both follow-up measurements.