Giovanni Giulietti1,2, Federico Torelli1,3,
Marco Bozzali1, Girolamo Garreffa1,2, Nicola Moscufo4,
Silvana Zannino1,5, Laura Serra1, Fabio Placidi5,
Fabrizio Fasano1, Gisela Hagberg1, Bruno Maraviglia1,2,
Ina Djonlagic6, Julian Saboisky6, Atul Malhotra6,
Maria Grazia Marciani1,5, Charles Guttmann4
1IRCCS "Santa Lucia
Foundation", Rome, Italy; 2"Enrico Fermi" Center,
Rome, Italy; 3Center for Neurological Imaging, Brigham and Women's
Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States; 4Center
for Neurological Imaging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States; 5Department
of Neuroscience, University "Tor Vergata", Rome, Italy; 6Division
of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States
This
VBM study aims at investigating GM and WM changes which might account for
clinical disabilities in patients with OSAS. Sixteen patients with OSAS
(grouped in moderate and severe clinical stage) and 14 healthy controls were
investigated. Neuropsychological assessment and MRI scanning were obtained
from each subject. Patients reported a selective impairment of verbal memory.
Subjects with severe OSAS showed a bilateral GM atrophy of the hippocampus
and some volumetric reductions in the
contiguous WM. These findings suggest that both regional GM atrophy and WM
disconnection might, at least parially, explain cognitive deficits detectable
in patients with OSAS.
Keywords