CORRELATIONS BETWEEN LATERAL VENTRICLE TEMPORAL HORN DIAMETERS, HIPPOCAMPAL VOLUME AND MINI MENTAL STATE EXAMINATION: A REVIEW OF 200 HIPPOCAMPAL STUDIES

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.1595252507076

• Palavras-chave: Diameter of Temporal Horns of the Lateral Ventricles, Hippocampal Volume, Mini Mental State Examination, Magnetic Resonance Imaging,

• Keywords: Diameter of Temporal Horns of the Lateral Ventricles, Hippocampal Volume, Mini Mental State Examination, Magnetic Resonance Imaging,

• Abstract:

  Objectives: to determine whether the transverse diameter of the anteroposterior portion of the temporal horns of the lateral ventricles has any relationship with the real volume of the hippocampus and the degree of cognitive impairment presented by the patients. Method: prospective study, which took place between January 2020 and July 2022, of 100 Dominican adults, divided into a control group of 60 patients with normal cognition divided into 3 age subgroups (20-40, 41 to 60 and 61 to 80 years old) and a case group of 40 patients complaining of cognitive problems (20 from 41 to 60 and 20 from 61 to 80 years old). They were administered the Folstein Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) adapted to Latino patients⁵. All of them benefited from a 1.5 Tesla MRI with 1-1.5 mm slices for three-dimensional reconstruction including T1 sequences without contrast, FLAIR, T2 and TOF. To determine the transverse diameter of the temporal horns, the anteroposterior portion of the horns was always chosen and not the one perpendicular to the midline due to the close relationship of the former with the Ammon’s Horn, the most voluminous portion of the hippocampus^{(8,9,10,11,12)}. A point was always taken from that portion of the temporal horn that was placed in the same position in the contralateral temporal horn. The hippocampi were examined morphologically to determine if there was any asymmetry in each slice when compared to each other by simple inspection by the Principal Investigator (PI). Real volumetry was performed using voxels and theoretical volumetry using the XYZ Geo method^(1,2). The time taken for each type of hippocampal volumetry was timed. The diameter of the temporal horns was correlated with the volume of the hippocampi studied and the MMSE result of each patient. The data collected was processed using measures of central tendency and dispersion in the Microsoft Excel 2016 platform. Results: the data obtained showed that the diameter of the temporal horns varies according to sex both on the left and on the right, being larger in men than in women on both sides. The diameter of the temporal horns increases with age and cognitive impairment, being more noticeable this correlation on the left side. The volume of the hippocampus has an inversely proportional correlation with respect to the diameter of the temporal horn: the greater the volume of the hippocampus the smaller the transverse diameter of the anteroposterior portion of the temporal horn and vice versa. When comparing temporal horn diameter with MMSE results, we found that the greater the transverse diameter of the anteroposterior portion of the temporal horn, the lower the MMSE score, especially in the left hemisphere. Conclusion: There is a close and inversely proportional correlation between the transverse diameter of the anteroposterior portion of the temporal horns of the lateral ventricles, the volume of the hippocampus and the MMSE score, which is more noticeable in the left hemisphere.