• Jianhong Wang, Jun Zhang, Lan Xu, Yunbo Shi, Xunyi Wu, and Qihao Guo.
• Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
• Plos One. 2013 Jan 1; 8 (2): e55758.

Background/AimsHashimoto's encephalopathy is considered as a treatable dementia, but it is often misdiagnosed. We investigated cognitive impairment and the MRI pathology of Hashimoto's encephalopathy patients.MethodsThe study comprised eight patients with Hashimoto's encephalopathy, 16 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease and 24 healthy subjects. A neuropsychological battery included assessments of memory, language, attention, executive function and visuospatial ability. Cranial MRI was obtained from all Hashimoto's encephalopathy patients.ResultsHashimoto's encephalopathy and mild Alzheimer's disease showed cognitive impairments in episodic memory, attention, executive function and visuospatial ability, but naming ability was unaffected in Hashimoto's encephalopathy. The MRI of Hashimoto's encephalopathy showed leukoencephalopathy-like type or limbic encephalitis-like type; the lesions did not affect the temporal cortex which plays a role in naming ability.ConclusionExcept that the naming ability was retained, the impairments in cognitive functions for the Hashimoto's encephalopathy patients were similar to those of Alzheimer's disease patients. These results were consistent with the MRI findings.

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