Prediction of treatment response to donepezil using automated hippocampal subfields volumes segmentation in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Previous studies reported some relationships between donepezil treatment and hippocampus in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, due to methodological limitations, their close relationships remain unclear. The aim of this study is to predict treatment response to donepezil by utilizing the automated segmentation of hippocampal subfields volumes (ASHS) in AD. Sixty four AD patients were prescribed with donepezil and were followed up for 24 weeks. Cognitive function was measured to assess whether there was a response from the donepezil treatment. ASHS was implemented on non-responder (NR) and responder (TR) groups, and receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of hippocampal subfields in predicting response to donepezil. The left total hippocampus and the CA1 area of the NR were significantly smaller than those of the TR group. The ROC curve analysis showed the left CA1 volumes showed highest area under curve (AUC) of 0.85 with a sensitivity of 88.0%, a specificity of 74.0% in predicting treatment response to donepezil treatment. We expect that hippocampal subfields volume measurements that predict treatment responses to current AD drugs will enable more evidence-based, individualized prescription of medications that will lead to more favorable treatment outcomes.