The hippocampus in aging and Alzheimer's disease.

Overview

The role of imaging in the evaluation of neurodegenerative disorders is summarized. The primary role of imaging is to exclude potentially treatable disorders such as meningioma, extracerebral hematoma, Wernicke's disease, and hypothyroidism. Atrophic changes dominate in the hippocampal region on Alzheimer's disease versus the anterior, frontal, and temporal lobes in Pick's disease. Signal hypointensity in the putamen on T2-weighted spin-echo images favors poorly drug-responsive Parkinson's disease whereas putaminal hyperintensity is observed with Creutzfeldt-Jacob, Wilson's, and Leigh's diseases. As our population ages, a thorough understanding of imaging findings in a geriatric population assumes an increasing importance.