MRI-based Hippocampal Volumetry and T sub 2 Relaxometry: Correlation to Verbal Memory Performance in Newly Diagnosed Epilepsy Patients with Left-sided Temporal Lobe Focus

The structural damage in the left hippocampus measured by volumetric MRI was shown to correlate with the impairment of verbal memory performance in chronic left-sided temporal lobe epilepsy. [1] In addition to volumetric measurements, MRI T2 relaxometry was suggested to provide a sensitive quantitative means of assessing the degree of hippocampal pathology in temporal lobe epilepsy. [2] We showed earlier in separate patient populations that patients with partial epilepsy of unknown etiology exhibit subtle verbal memory dysfunction measured by neuropsychological tests [3] and mild hippocampal damage measured by MRI volumetry [4] already at the time of diagnosis. There are no data of the correlation of MRI-based quantitative measurements of hippocampus with the memory performance in newly diagnosed patients. We measured hippocampal volumes and T2 relaxation times using a 1.5-T MRI imager in …