Discovering the hippocampus with cranial-CT.

Congress:

ECR 2018

Poster Number:

C-0378

Type:

Educational Exhibit

Keywords:

Head and neck, Anatomy, Neuroradiology brain, CT, MR, CT-Angiography, Education, Diagnostic procedure, Dementia, Cancer, Seizure disorders

Authors:

F. Pozo Piñon¹, A. B. Barba Arce², E. herrera romero¹, V. Fernández Lobo³, Y. Lamprecht³, E. Montes Figueroa³, E. Marín Diez³, E. M. Marco De Lucas⁴; ¹Santander, Cantabria/ES, ²Torrelavega, Cantabria/ES, ³Santander/ES, ⁴Santander, Ca/ES

DOI:

10.1594/ecr2018/C-0378

DOI-Link:

https://dx.doi.org/10.1594/ecr2018/C-0378

Fig. 4: Coronal FLAIR and axial T2: Alzheimer disease.

Fig. 5: Axial T2 and coronal FLAIR: Frontotemporal dementia.

Fig. 7: NECT: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Fig. 8: Coronal T2 and axial DWI: Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.

Learning objectives

We reviewed CT and MRI studies labelled as hippocampus pathologies from our centre’s clinical archive. Afterwards, we conducted a study of the hippocampus anatomy with high-resolution MRI and vascular anatomy with CT angiography, in order to find the principal clues for a fast and precise diagnosis of these diseases.

Background

The hippocampus is a region of the brain located in the medial temporal lobe that lies in the hippocampal sulcus immediately below the floor of the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle and in coronal view has a form that remembers a sea horse. It has a head (posterior to theamygdala), a body, and a tail (which follows the upwardly curving lateral ventricle). Anatomically, it is part of the limbic system, a set of brain structures that manage primitive physiological responses. It exerts fundamental functions...

Findings and procedure details

We have reviewed the principal characteristics of the hippocampus anatomy and the most usual diseases affecting it, which includes: degenerative diseases (Alzheimer disease, in which the hippocampus is one of the brain regions affected earlier, and frontotemporal dementia), vascular pathology (ischemic stroke, hypoxic-isquemic encephalopathy, transient global amnesia), anatomical variants (remnants cysts of hippocampal sulcus), tumors (glioma, glioblastoma multiforme), infectious disease (encephalitis HSV1), and pathology associated with epilepsy (mesial temporal sclerosis, status epilepticus). Fig. 1-3 Alzheimer disease (Fig. 4) We can use the NECT for the...

Conclusion

The hippocampus is a highly important region of the brain, and therefore a thorough radiological study will allow an earlier detection of the various diseases that affect it, in order to start the therapeutic process as soon as possible, therefore resulting in smaller and later clinical deterioration.

Personal information

References

Förster A et al: Diffusion-weighted imaging for the differential diagnosis of disorders affecting the hippocampus. Cerebrovasc Dis. 33(2):104-15, 2012 Lindberg O et al: Hippocampal shape analysis in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration subtypes. J Alzheimers Dis. 30(2):355-65, 2012 Noguchi T et al: CT and MRI findings of human herpesvirus 6-associated encephalopathy: comparison with findings of herpes simplex virus encephalitis. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 194(3):754-60, 2010 Gamss RP et al: Prevalence of hippocampal malrotation in a population without seizures. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 30(8):1571-3, 2009