PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - H Hénon
AU  - F Pasquier
AU  - I Durieu
AU  - J P Pruvo
AU  - D Leys
TI  - Medial temporal lobe atrophy in stroke patients: relation to pre-existing dementia
AID  - 10.1136/jnnp.65.5.641
DP  - 1998 Nov 01
TA  - Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery &amp;amp; Psychiatry
PG  - 641--647
VI  - 65
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/65/5/641.short
4100  - http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/65/5/641.full
SO  - J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry1998 Nov 01; 65
AB  - OBJECTIVE The links between stroke and Alzheimer’s disease seem to be closer than expected by chance. In a previous study it was shown that up to 16% of patients admitted for stroke had pre-existing dementia. Medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTLA) is strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of MTLA and its relation with pre-existing dementia. METHOD The study was conducted on 170 consecutive stroke patients (87 women; median age 75 years; 152 infarcts), who underwent non-contrast CT with temporal lobe oriented 2 mm contiguous slices at admission. A cut off point of 11.5 mm was used to differentiate patients with and without MTLA. Pre-existing dementia was assessed using the informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly (IQCODE) with a cut off score of 104. RESULTS Ninety four patients (55.3%) had MTLA, of whom 23 (24.5%) had pre-existing dementia; of 76 patients without MTLA, only four (5.3%) had pre-existing dementia (p=0.0007). The logistic regression analysis with MTLA as dependent variable found the following independent variables: increasing age (p&amp;lt;0.05), and global cerebral atrophy scores (p&amp;lt;0.01). The IQCODE scores just reached significance (p=0.05). CONCLUSION Stroke patients with MTLA are more likely to have pre-existing dementia; this suggests that Alzheimer’s disease might contribute to the dementia syndrome. A longitudinal follow up is now necessary to determine whether stroke patients with MTLA and without pre-existing dementia are at increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease over subsequent years.