Memory Disorders - Neill R. Graff-Radford

Clinicopathological Studies

Dennis W. Dickson, M.D., and Neill R. Graff-Radford, M.D., collaborate in numerous clinicopathological studies. Recently, they published findings that describe three patterns of Alzheimer's disease pathology:

• Typical pathology, in which the pathology is in the hippocampus and association cortices
• Hippocampal sparing, in which the pathology is severe in the cortices but has relative sparing of the hippocampus
• Limbic predominant, in which the pathology is predominantly in the limbic lobes

These different pathologies have strong clinical implications. For example, hippocampal sparing cases have earlier onset, are more common in men and progress more rapidly. Further, the tau gene haplotypes are different from those in the other groups.

Drs. Dickson and Graff-Radford have also published on hippocampal sclerosis.