Purpose

Transcranial sonography (TCS) is increasingly used for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders. We assessed the role of third ventricle width (TVW), midbrain area (MA), and midbrain circumference (MC) by TCS for diagnosis and differentiation of dementia.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was designed in 59 patients with dementia including 19 patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 10 Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), 23 Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and 7 Vascular dementia (VaD), and 22 normal-cognition individuals. Both case and control groups were matched by age, sex, and educational level. The dementia patients were divided into two subgroups: cortical-dominant dementia (CDD) including AD and FTD; and subcortical-dominant dementia (SDD) including DLB and VaD. TCS was performed through a temporal window, in which the size of TVW and midbrain was measured by trans-thalamic and trans-mesencephalic planes, respectively.

Results

The mean TVW was 0.85 ± 0.3 cm and 0.66 ± 0.2 cm in dementia patients and the control group, respectively (p < 0.01). The MA/MC were smaller in dementia patients compared with the control group (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). The TVW in CDD (p = 0.003) and SDD (p = 0.027), but only MA/MC in SDD (p < 0.05), was statistically different compared with the control group.

Conclusion

The measurement of TVW and midbrain size by TCS can be used for diagnosis and differentiation of dementia. Patients with CDD and SDD have larger TVW than the control group, whereas patients with SDD have smaller midbrain sizes.

中文翻译：

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经颅超声检查在痴呆亚型分化中的作用：一种新的诊断方法的介绍。

目的

经颅超声检查（TCS）越来越多地用于诊断神经退行性疾病。我们通过TCS评估了第三脑室宽度（TVW），中脑面积（MA）和中脑周长（MC）在痴呆诊断和鉴别中的作用。

方法

设计了一项横断面研究，对59例痴呆患者进行了研究，其中包括19例阿尔茨海默氏病（AD），10例路易体痴呆（DLB），23额颞叶痴呆（FTD）和7血管性痴呆（VaD），以及22例正常认知个人。病例组和对照组均按年龄，性别和教育程度进行匹配。痴呆症患者分为两个亚组：包括AD和FTD的皮质占优势痴呆症（CDD）；和皮质下优势痴呆（SDD），包括DLB和VaD。TCS通过时间窗执行，其中TVW和中脑的大小分别通过丘脑和中脑平面进行测量。

结果

痴呆患者和对照组的平均TVW分别为0.85±0.3 cm和0.66±0.2 cm（p  <0.01）。与对照组相比，痴呆患者的MA / MC较小（p  <0.05和p  <0.01）。CDD（p  = 0.003）和SDD（p  = 0.027）的TVW 与对照组相比，SDD中只有MA / MC（p <0.05）有统计学差异。

结论

通过TCS测量TVW和中脑大小可用于痴呆的诊断和鉴别。CDD和SDD患者的TVW比对照组大，而SDD患者的中脑较小。