Curved multiplanar reformatting provides improved visualization of hippocampal anatomy

There is a growing body of literature studying changes in hippocampal subfields in a variety of different neurological conditions, but this work has mainly focused on the hippocampal body given challenges in visualization of hippocampal anatomy in the head and tail when sectioned in the typical coronal image plane. Curved multiplanar reformatting (CMPR) is an image reconstruction method that can improve visualization of complex three-dimensional structures. The objective of this study was to determine whether CMPR could facilitate visualization of the human hippocampal anatomy along the entire caudal-rostral axis. CMPR was applied to high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging acquired ex vivo on four cadaveric hippocampal specimens at 4.7 T (T2-weighted, 0.2 x 0.2 x 0.5 mm(3) ). CMPR provided clear visualization of the classic "interlocking C" appearance of the dentate gyrus and cornu ammonis along the entire caudal-rostral axis including the head and tail, which otherwise show complex anatomy on the standard coronal slices. CMPR facilitated visualization of hippocampal anatomy providing the impetus to develop simplified approaches to delineate subfields along the entire hippocampus including the usually neglected head and tail.