We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




Smoking, Age and Diabetes Linked to Hippocampal Calcifications

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 12 Jul 2018
Print article
Image: Axial and coronal CT images show mild hippocampal calcification (arrowheads) (Photo courtesy of RSNA).
Image: Axial and coronal CT images show mild hippocampal calcification (arrowheads) (Photo courtesy of RSNA).
A new multiplanar computerized tomography (CT) study shows that older age, diabetes mellitus, and smoking are associated with an increased risk of hippocampal calcifications.

Researchers at University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU; The Netherlands) and Tergooi Hospital (Hilversum, The Netherlands) conducted a study in 1,991 patients (average age 78 years), who visited the memory clinic at Tergooi Hospital between 2009 and 2015. All patients had a standard diagnostic workup, including cognitive tests and brain CT scans, which were analyzed for presence and severity of hippocampal calcifications. The researchers then studied their association with vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, and also assessed the effects of calcifications on cognitive function.

The results revealed that 19.1% of the patients had hippocampal calcifications. Older age, diabetes mellitus, and smoking were associated with the presence of hippocampal calcifications, but no link was found between the presence and severity of hippocampal calcifications and cognitive function. As a result, the researchers plan to carry out additional studies in different groups of people to better understand possible connections between hippocampal calcifications and cognitive problems. The study was published on June 12, 2018, in Radiology.

“We do think that smoking and diabetes are risk factors. In a recent histopathology study, hippocampal calcifications were found to be a manifestation of vascular disease,” said lead author Esther JM de Brouwer, MD, a geriatrician at UMCU. “It is well known that smoking and diabetes are risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It is therefore likely that smoking and diabetes are risk factors for hippocampal calcifications.”

“Multiplanar CT scan makes it possible to see the hippocampus in different anatomical planes; for example, from top to bottom, right to left, and front to back,” concluded Dr. de Brouwer.”Before multiplanar CT scans, hippocampal calcifications were often mistaken for choroid plexus calcifications. So with multiplanar CT scans, hippocampal calcifications are better distinguished from calcifications in other areas.”

Hippocampal calcifications were first described in a pathology study in 2002 as a vasculopathy with fibrosis and calcifications with a predilection for the middle hippocampal artery. These calcifications can spread from the tail to the body of the hippocampus and occasionally to the head, and may lead to patchy neuronal loss. Accordingly, it has been hypothesized that hippocampal calcifications may be a manifestation of vascular abnormalities that could contribute to hippocampal atrophy and cognitive deterioration, such as in dementia.

Related Links:
University Medical Center Utrecht
Tergooi Hospital

Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
New
Brachytherapy Planning System
Oncentra Brachy
New
Ultrasound System
Acclarix AX9
New
Ultrasound Doppler System
Doppler BT-200

Print article

Channels

Radiography

view channel
:	Image: The AI model could be a valuable adjunct to human radiologists in breast cancer diagnoses and risk prediction (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

AI Model Predicts 5-Year Breast Cancer Risk from Mammograms

Approximately 13% of U.S. women, or one in every eight, are predicted to develop invasive breast cancer over their lifetime, with 1 in 39 women (3%) succumbing to the illness, according to the American... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: The AI system uses scintigraphy imaging for early diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

AI System Automatically and Reliably Detects Cardiac Amyloidosis Using Scintigraphy Imaging

Cardiac amyloidosis, a condition characterized by the buildup of abnormal protein deposits (amyloids) in the heart muscle, severely affects heart function and can lead to heart failure or death without... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: Samsung Medison CEO Mr. Yongkwan Kim and Bracco Imaging CEO Dr. Fulvio Renoldi Bracco endorsed a MoU agreement (Photo courtesy of Bracco Group)

Samsung and Bracco Enter Into New Diagnostic Ultrasound Technology Agreement

Samsung Medison (Seoul, South Korea) and Bracco Imaging (Milan, Italy) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement to pioneer a new area for diagnostic ultrasound devices and contrast agents.... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.