Interaction of medial temporal lobe atrophy and white matter hyperintensities in AD.

The authors investigated the interaction between medial temporal lobe (MTL) atrophy and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in Alzheimer disease (AD). They measured the MTL and WMH on MRI in 58 AD patients and 28 controls. MTL atrophy was associated with an increased risk of AD (OR = 6.2), but there was no significant association between WMH and AD. Moreover, there was an interaction between MTL and WMH (p = 0.045). These results suggest that vascular and Alzheimer-type pathology act in synergy in the clinical syndrome of AD.