OBJECTIVE
Study of neuroimaging changes according to MRI morphometry and their comparison with the structure and severity of cognitive impairment (CI) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study involved 90 patients who were divided into two equal groups of 45 people and who early had diagnosis of AD (group 1; median age — 71 [66; 77] years) and POAG (group 2; median age — 68 [64; 77] years). 71] years). All patients underwent assessment of their neurological status, neuropsychological testing, structural MRI of the brain, followed by morphometric data processing. For the purpose of comparative assessment of the obtained MRI morphometry indicators, a group of healthy individuals was taken — group 3 (n=10).
RESULTS
In patients with AD, severe cognitive impairment (CI) was detected, and in patients with POAG, pre-dementia CI with a similar neurodegenerative nature was identified. According to MRI morphometry, in the group of patients with AD compared with POAG, there was a decrease in the volumes of gray matter of the brain, hippocampus, right thalamus, amygdala, entorhinal cortex, right cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus, as well as thicknesses: entorhinal cortex, cingulate gyrus and fusiform gyrus (p<0.05). When comparing volumes according to MRI morphometry with healthy individuals, patients with AD revealed a statistically significant decrease in all studied neuroimaging indicators, and when comparing thicknesses: left entorhinal cortex, fusiform gyrus; while in POAG only a decrease in the volumes of gray matter of the brain, thalamus, and right medial orbitofrontal cortex was noted.
CONCLUSION
POAG can be considered not only as an independent disease, but also as a predictor of the development of AD, therefore, the statistically significant differences we obtained between the AD group and POAG according to MRI morphometry may reflect the dynamics of the neurodegenerative process and depend on the severity of CI. In this connection, MRI morphometry can be considered not only as a method of early diagnosis, but also as an assessment of disease progression. In this case, it is important to determine not only the thicknesses, but also the volumes of brain structures according to MRI morphometry data.
