Normative hippocampal volumetric measurements using magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

Background/aim: A wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders have been shown to be closely related to changes inhippocampal volume (HV). It appears that hippocampal volumetry will be an indispensable part of clinical practice for a number ofneuropsychiatric disorders in the near future. The aim of this study was to establish a normative data set for HV according to age andsex in the general population.Materials and methods: Hippocampal magnetic resonance imaging scans of 302 healthy volunteers were obtained using a 1.5 T unitwith a 20-channel head coil. The hippocampal volumetric assessment was conducted using the volBrain fully automated segmentationalgorithm on coronal oblique T1-weighted magnetization prepared rapid gradient-echo (MP-RAGE) images obtained perpendicular tothe long axis of the hippocampus. The mean values of HV of groups according to age and sex were calculated. The associations betweenHV and age and sex were analyzed.Results: The mean HV of the study group was found to be 3.81 ± 0.46 cm3. We found that the mean HV of males (3.94 ± 0.49 cm3)was significantly higher than that of females (3.74 ± 0.42 cm3), and the mean right HV (3.86 ± 0.48 cm3) was significantly higher thanthat of the left HV (3.78 ± 0.49 cm3) (P = 0.001). Among both females and males, there were statistically significant but poor negativecorrelations between age and volumetric measurements of both the right and the left hippocampi (P < 0.05).Conclusion: The normative hippocampal volumetric data obtained in this study may be beneficial in clinical applications for manyneuropsychiatric diseases, especially for mesial temporal sclerosis and cognitive disorders.