Hippocampal volume measurement in patients with Meniere's disease: a pilot study

Conclusion. No signs of chronic stress as in hippocampal atrophy were present in patients with Meniere's disease. Objective. To evaluate the effect of chronic stress (allostatic load) by measuring hippocampal volume in patients with Meniere's disease. Subjects and methods. Ten patients with Meniere's disease and 10 healthy controls were evaluated for absolute and relative hippocampal volumes measured on MRI scans, saliva cortisol levels and frequency of daily stressors. The study was performed in a prospective, controlled setting with two raters who were blinded as to subject identity. Results. Saliva cortisol levels and presence of daily stressor scores were similar in both groups. The first rater measured mean hippocampal volumes of 2.80 +/- 90.36 cm(3) vs 3.15 +/- 90.52 cm(3) ( right) and 2.49 +/- 90.32 cm(3) vs 3.06 +/- 90.46 cm(3) (left), for the Meniere's disease and control group, respectively. The second rater measured 3.44 +/- 0.35 cm(3) vs 3.60 +/- 0.52 cm(3) ( right) and 3.00 +/- 0.40 cm(3) vs 3.42 +/- 0.45 cm(3) ( left), respectively. The volume of the left hippocampus was significantly smaller in patients with Meniere's disease compared with the controls for both raters ( p < 0.05) and the right hippocampal volume was not different between the two groups. With correction for variation in head size ( partial brain and partial intracranial volume) no significant differences in relative hippocampal volumes were observed between patients with Meniere's disease and the control group.