Volume analysis of hippocampus and amygdala subregions in patients with retinal detachment.

BACKGROUND

We aimed to investigate the pattern of atrophy in the hippocampus and amygdala subregions in patients with retinal detachment (RD) and its correlation with cognition and emotion.

METHODS

The study recruited 32 patients diagnosed with RD alongside 33 healthy controls (HCs), carefully matched for sex and age. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of all participants underwent automated segmentation to delineate hippocampal and amygdala subfields, utilizing FreeSurfer v6.0.

RESULTS

In contrast to the HCs, RD patients exhibited noteworthy volumetric reductions in various regions, including cornu ammonis 1 (CA1)-head, molecular layer, dentate gyrus, and hippocampus-amygdala transition area bilaterally. This led to a collective decrease in the volume of the bilateral whole hippocampal head, right whole hippocampal body, and right entire hippocampus. In addition, the volume of Accessory-Basal-nucleus, Anterior-amygdaloid-area-AAA, and Corticoamygdaloid-transitio on the right side was also significantly reduced. Furthermore, the decrease in hippocampal and amygdala subfield volumes among RD patients showed a negative correlation with disease duration and HAMA score, while exhibiting a positive correlation with the axial length of eye and MoCA score.

CONCLUSION

These findings imply that alterations in the volume of hippocampal and amygdala subfields in RD patients are associated with emotional and cognitive dysfunction and may serve as biomarkers for predicting disease progression in RD patients.