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BackgroundCurrent methods for quantitative assessment of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) ignore critical aspects of the disease, namely lesion type and regionality. We developed and tested a new scoring system for CSVD, "regional Cerebral Small Vessel Disease" (rCSVD) based on regional assessment of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features.Methods141 patients were retrospectively included with a derivation cohort of 46 consecutive brain MRI exams and a validation cohort of 95 patients with known cerebrovascular disease. We compared the predictive value of rCSVD against existing scoring methods. We determined the predictive value of rCSVD score for all-cause mortality and recurrent strokes.Results46 (44 male) veteran patients (age: 66-93 years), were included for derivation of the rCSVD score. A non-overlapping validation cohort consisted of 95 patients (89 male; age: 34-91 years) with known cerebrovascular disease were enrolled. Based on ROC analysis with comparison of AUC (Area Under the Curve), "rCSVD" score performed better compared to "total SVD score" and Fazekas score for predicting all-cause mortality (0.75 vs 0.68 vs 0.69; p = 0.046). "rCSVD" and total SVD scores were predictive of recurrent strokes in our validation cohort (p-values 0.004 and 0.001). At a median of 5.1 years (range 2-17 years) follow-up, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated an rCSVD score of 2 to be a significant predictor of all-cause-mortality.Conclusion"rCSVD" score can be derived from routine brain MRI, has value in risk stratification of patients at risk of CSVD, and has potential in clinical trials once fully validated in a larger patient cohort.

Abstract Background Cerebral small vessel disease can be identified using magnetic resonance imaging, and includes white matter hyperintensities, lacunar infarcts, cerebral microbleeds, and brain atrophy. Cerebral small vessel disease and chronic kidney disease share many risk factors, including hypertension. This study aims to explore an association between chronic kidney disease and cerebral small vessel disease, and also to explore the role of hypertension in this relationship. Methods With a cross sectional study design, data from 390 older adults was retrieved from the general population study Good Aging in Skåne. Chronic kidney disease was defined as glomerular filtration rate

Basal ganglia (BG) are involved in motor coordination. BG strokes usually present with problems controlling speech, movements, mood and posture leading to abulia which is a prominent feature. BG stroke presenting with daytime sleepiness is not well reported. We report a 63-year- old Asian woman with hypertension presenting with sudden onset daytime sleepiness due to basal ganglia infarction. This case highlights the importance of considering BG infarction as a differential diagnosis for sudden onset daytime sleepiness.

Objective: Arteriolosclerosis cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a common type of CSVD. This study aimed to explore the factors associated with cognitive function and total MRI burden related to the disease. Methods: The demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, cognitive function score, Barthel Index (BI), blood test index, and follow-up results of arteriolosclerosis CSVD patients treated for the first time in our hospital from January 2014 to August 2022 were collected. White matter hyperintensity (WMH) Fazekas score, total MRI burden, and cerebral atrophy grade were evaluated according to brain MRI findings. Factors associated with CSVD cognitive function were analyzed by binary logistic regression. The correlative factors related to the total MRI burden of CSVD were analyzed by ordered multiple logistic regression. Results: A total of 146 patients were included in this study, of which 132 cases (90.4%) had hypertension. There were 108 patients (74.0%) with cognitive dysfunction, 97 patients (66.4%) with balance and gait disorders, and 83 patients (56.8%) with moderate-to-severe dependence in daily life (BI ≤ 60 points). Of 146 patients, 79 (54.1%) completed clinical and imaging follow-ups for a median of 3 years. The number of patients with cognitive impairment and BI ≤ 60 points after follow-up significantly increased compared with the first admission (P < 0.001). There were also significant differences in total MRI burden (P = 0.001), WMH Fazekas score, and cerebral atrophy grade (P < 0.001). Mean age (P = 0.012), median deep WMH Fazekas score (P = 0.028), and median deep (P < 0.001) and superficial (P =0.002) cerebral atrophy grade of patients with cognitive impairment at first admission were all higher than those with non-cognitive impairment. Multivariate analysis showed that deep cerebral atrophy was independently and significantly associated with cognitive impairment of CSVD (P = 0.024), and hypertension was significantly and independently associated with total MRI burden (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The disease course of arteriolosclerosis CSVD may be related to cognitive function and total MRI burden. Deep cerebral atrophy was an independent risk factor for cognitive dysfunction in arteriolosclerosis CSVD, and hypertension was an independent risk factor for total MRI burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease (CSVD) frequently affects the elderly, with inflammation playing a crucial role in related health complications, including dementia, stroke, and SVD. Studies, including animal experiments, indicate a strong link between inflammation and SVD progression. The Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) serves as a possible biomarker for ongoing inflammatory risks. A total of 720 adults aged 50 years or older from the community-based I-Lan Longitudinal Aging Study were included in this study. General linear regression and ordinally logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between NLR and CSVD. We further examined the presence of lacune, microbleed, and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) on brain MRI, which were used to construct a combined CSVD score. The NLR was positively associated with WMH (adjusted r = 0.109, p = 0.003), microbleed (adjusted r = 0.102, p = 0.006), and lacune (adjusted r = 0.100, p = 0.008). After adjustments for smoking, drinking, and physical activity in the ordinal logistic regression analysis, age, gender, brachial Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), fasting glucose, LDL-cholesterol, and Hs-CRP were compared among subjects with low tertile (T1), medium tertile (T2) and high tertile (T3) NLR. The results showed that T2 vs. T1 had an odds ratio of 1.23 (0.86–1.77); and T3 vs. T1 had an odds ratio of 1.87 (1.29–2.71) of CSVD scores in four groups (zero (reference group), one, two, and three or more). NLR could be used to assess the state of inflammation in cerebral vessels. A significant and positive correlation between NLR and CSVD was verified in this study. However, the practical clinical application of NLR in CSVD patients and prognosis prediction should be validated through more scientific attempts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is a hereditary vascular disorder inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. MRI plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients. Characteristic MRI lesions include symmetric and bilateral white matter periventricular hyperintensities, lacunar infarcts and cerebral microbleeds. In our case report, we demonstrate a male patient with genetically confirmed CADASIL syndrome and the progression of symptoms with corresponding imaging findings throughout the years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral Small Vessel Disease (CSVD) frequently affects the elderly, with inflammation playing a crucial role in related health complications, including dementia, stroke, and SVD. Studies, including animal experiments, indicate a strong link between inflammation and SVD progression. The Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) serves as a possible biomarker for ongoing inflammatory risks. A total of 720 adults aged 50 years or older from the community-based I-Lan Longitudinal Aging Study were included in this study. General linear regression and ordinally logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate the association between NLR and CSVD. We further examined the presence of lacune, microbleed, and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) on brain MRI, which were used to construct a combined CSVD score. The NLR was positively associated with WMH (adjusted r = 0.109, p = 0.003), microbleed (adjusted r = 0.102, p = 0.006), and lacune (adjusted r = 0.100, p = 0.008). After adjustments for smoking, drinking, and physical activity in the ordinal logistic regression analysis, age, gender, brachial Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP), fasting glucose, LDL-cholesterol, and Hs-CRP were compared among subjects with low tertile (T1), medium tertile (T2) and high tertile (T3) NLR. The results showed that T2 vs. T1 had an odds ratio of 1.23 (0.86–1.77); and T3 vs. T1 had an odds ratio of 1.87 (1.29–2.71) of CSVD scores in four groups (zero (reference group), one, two, and three or more). NLR could be used to assess the state of inflammation in cerebral vessels. A significant and positive correlation between NLR and CSVD was verified in this study. However, the practical clinical application of NLR in CSVD patients and prognosis prediction should be validated through more scientific attempts.

Lacunes or lacunar infarcts are small fluid-filled cavities associated with cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). They contribute to the development of lacunar stroke, dementia, and gait impairment. The identification of lacunes is of great significance in elucidating the pathophysiological mechanism of cSVD. This paper proposes a semi-automated 3D multi-scale residual convolutional network (3D ResNet) for lacunar infarcts detection, which can learn global representations of the anatomical location of lacunes using two multi-scale magnetic resonance image modalities. This process requires minimal user intervention by passing the potential suspicious lacunes into the network. The proposed network is trained, validated, and tested using five-fold cross-validation using data, including 696 lacunes, from 288 subjects. We also present experiments on various combinations of multi-scale inputs and their effect on extracting global context features that directly influence identification performance. The proposed system shows its capability to differentiate between true lacunes and lacune mimics, providing supportive interpretations for neuroradiologists. The proposed 3D multi-scale ResNet identifies lacunar infarcts with a sensitivity of 96.41%, a specificity of 90.92%, an overall accuracy of 93.67%, and an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) of 93.67% over all fold tests. The proposed system also achieved a precision of 91.40% and an average number of FPs per subject of 1.32. The system may be feasible for clinical use by supporting decision-making for lacunar infarct detection.

Chorea-hemiballismus is the most common movement disorder, and it commonly results from vascular lesions in the subthalamic nucleus. Rarely, it can result from lacunar infarcts. Here is illustrated a 95-year-old male with sudden-onset left-sided chorea-hemiballismus of 2 weeks, without any other neurological deficit, who was not a diabetic patient and had no form of acidosis or electrolyte abnormality. Computerized tomogram, serial 32 slides pre- and post-contrast images showed small non-enhancing, hypodense foci within the right frontal subcortical region adjacent to the frontal horn of the right lateral ventricle as well as within the lentiform nucleus. There were no mass effects seen. A diagnosis of hemiballismus from subcortical lacunar infarct was made. The hemiballismus was controlled after 2 weeks of haloperidol and clonazepam therapy, among others, with a substantial reduction in the abnormal movements. Hemiballismus attributable to subcortical lacunar infarcts though rare was presented.

Abstract Background Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) leads to reduced quality of life (QOL), but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. This study investigated multivariate relationships between radiological markers of SVD and domain‐specific QOL deficits, as well as potential mediators, in patients with SVD. Methods Clinical and neuroimaging measures were obtained from a pooled sample of 174 SVD patients from the St. George's Cognition and Neuroimaging in Stroke and PRESsure in established cERebral small VEssel disease studies. Lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, and microbleeds were defined as radiological markers of SVD and delineated using MRI. QOL was assessed using the Stroke‐Specific Quality of Life Scale. Multivariate linear regression was used to determine whether SVD markers were associated with domain‐specific QOL deficits. Significant associations were further investigated using mediation analysis to examine whether functional disability or cognition was potential mediators. Results Multivariate regression analyses revealed that lacunes were associated with total QOL score (β = −8.22, p = .02), as well as reductions in mobility (β = −1.41, p = .008) and language‐related subdomains (β = −0.69, p = .033). White matter hyperintensities and microbleeds showed univariate correlations with QOL, but these became nonsignificant during multivariate analyses. Mediation analyses revealed that functional disability, defined as reduced activities of daily living, and executive function, partially mediated the relationship between lacunes and total QOL, as well as mobility‐related QOL, but not language‐related QOL. Conclusions Lacunar infarcts have the most detrimental effect on QOL in SVD patients, particularly in the mobility and language‐related subdomains. These effects may be partially explained by a reduction in activities of daily living. These results may inform targeted interventions to improve QOL in patients with SVD.

Background: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) leads to reduced quality of life (QOL), but the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unknown. This study investigated multivariate relationships between radiological markers of SVD and domain‐specific QOL deficits, as well as potential mediators, in patients with SVD. Methods: Clinical and neuroimaging measures were obtained from a pooled sample of 174 SVD patients from the St. George's Cognition and Neuroimaging in Stroke and PRESsure in established cERebral small VEssel disease studies. Lacunes, white matter hyperintensities, and microbleeds were defined as radiological markers of SVD and delineated using MRI. QOL was assessed using the Stroke‐Specific Quality of Life Scale. Multivariate linear regression was used to determine whether SVD markers were associated with domain‐specific QOL deficits. Significant associations were further investigated using mediation analysis to examine whether functional disability or cognition was potential mediators. Results: Multivariate regression analyses revealed that lacunes were associated with total QOL score (β = −8.22, p =.02), as well as reductions in mobility (β = −1.41, p =.008) and language‐related subdomains (β = −0.69, p =.033). White matter hyperintensities and microbleeds showed univariate correlations with QOL, but these became nonsignificant during multivariate analyses. Mediation analyses revealed that functional disability, defined as reduced activities of daily living, and executive function, partially mediated the relationship between lacunes and total QOL, as well as mobility‐related QOL, but not language‐related QOL. Conclusions: Lacunar infarcts have the most detrimental effect on QOL in SVD patients, particularly in the mobility and language‐related subdomains. These effects may be partially explained by a reduction in activities of daily living. These results may inform targeted interventions to improve QOL in patients with SVD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is the most common, chronic and progressive vascular disease. The changes affect arterioles, capillaries and small veins supplying the white matter and deep structures of the brain. It is the most common incidental finding on brain scans, especially in people over 80 years of age. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a key role in the diagnosis of CSVD. The nomenclature and radiological phenotypes of CSVD were published in 2013 based on the unified position of the so-called Centres of Excellence in Neurodegeneration. The disease is characterized by a diverse clinical and radiological picture. It is primarily responsible for stroke incidents, gait disturbances, depression, cognitive impairment, and dementia in the elderly. The CSVD contributes to about 20% of strokes, including 25% of ischemic strokes and 45% of dementias. Common causes of CSVD include arteriosclerosis, cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), genetic small vessel angiopathy, inflammation and immune-mediated small vessel diseases, and venous collagenosis. There is no causal treatment and management is mainly based on combating known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) is an ophthalmic emergency. It occurs when central retinal artery gets occluded. We present a case of a 34-years-old male, alcoholic and a smoker presenting with sudden loss of vision of right eye. Fundus examination revealed a picture of CRAO. On further neuroimaging, a silent acute to subacute lacunar infarcts were found.

Introduction : Mixed dementia (MixD) refers to a combination of definite Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular encephalopathy. The existence of a “pure” type of vascular dementia (VaD) is controversial. There is a need to find magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics allowing the distinction between VaD and MixD. The present post-mortem 7.0-tesla MRI compares the frequency or severity and the topography of the small cerebrovascular lesions in brains of patients with VaD and with MixD. Material and methods : Based on neuropathological criteria, 14 brains were classified as VaD, 24 as MixD and 11 as controls. Three coronal sections of a cerebral hemisphere and a horizontal section of a cerebellar hemisphere underwent T2 and T2* 7.0-tesla MRI examination. The mean values and topographic distribution of white matter changes (WMCs), lacunar infarcts (LIs), cortical microbleeds (CoMBs) and cortical microinfarcts (CoMIs) were determined and compared between the different groups. Results : Compared to the controls, both VaD and MixD brains had significantly more severe WMCs and increased numbers of CoMBs and CoMIs. Lacunar infarcts predominated only in the VaD cases. On mutual comparison of VaD and MixD brains, CoMBs and CoMIs predominated in the frontal lobe and the cerebellum of VaD, while were mainly present in the occipital lobe of MixD. White matter changes predominated in the temporal lobe of MixD cases. Lacunar infarcts were significantly increased in the corona radiata and putamen of VaD patients. Conclusions : The present post-mortem MRI study shows clear differences in the distribution and the types of cerebrovascular lesions on high-field MRI, confirming that VaD and MixD are different diseases.

ntroduction.Arterial hypertension (AH) is the major modified riskfactor for brain injury. Clarification of the brain changes and themechanisms of their development during the asymptomatic stagewill ensure better results in the prevention of AH complications. Objective. The study purpose was to evaluate specific changes inthe brain MRI picture, associated with AH of varying severity. Materials and methods. The study involved 82 patients with newlydiagnosed asymptomatic AH, aged 4559 years. The patients underwentMRI of the brain (T1 and T2 weighted images, FLAIR,diffusion weighted imaging with calculation of an apparent diffusioncoefficient (ADC) map). We evaluated the localization andseverity of white matter hyperintensity (WMH), lacunar infarcts,and dilated perivascular spaces as well as the white matter microstructurebased on ADC in a visually intact white matter in areasof its potential vulnerability. Results. The earliest and most typical change is the formationof hyperintensity lesions in the juxtacortical areas of the frontallobes. AH worsening is associated with an increase in the numberof hyperintensity lesions from the frontal to occipital areas of thewhite brain matter and from the surface to deep brain regionsas well as microstructural changes in the intact white matter inpotential vulnerability areas. Conclusion. The observed high correlations between WMH anddilated semioval perivascular spaces and increased diffusion inthe intact white matter as well as the absence of similar correlationsfor lacunar infarcts suggest that the pathophysiological basisof early brain changes in AH is increased vascular permeability,but not ischemia. The factors of a high risk of clinical symptomsinclude lesion extension to the posterior brain structures, multiplefoci of hyperintensity in the periventricular white matter ofthe frontal lobes, and an increasing number of lacunar infarcts.These findings are significant for evaluating potential risk of clinicalsymptoms and for understanding the mechanisms of earlybrain injury in AH.

Hypoperfusion is the typical perfusion pattern associated with recent small subcortical infarcts of the brain, but other perfusion patterns may be present in patients with these infarcts. Using CT perfusion, we studied 67 consecutive patients who had a small subcortical infarct at a follow-up MRI study to investigate the correlation between the perfusion pattern and the clinical and radiological course. On CT perfusion map analysis, 51 patients (76%) had focal hypoperfusion, 4 patients (6%) had hyperperfusion and the remaining 12 patients (18%) showed no abnormalities. On dynamic sequential imaging analysis obtained from the source perfusion images, 32 patients (48%) had a sustained hypoperfusion pattern, 11 patients (16%) had a reperfusion pattern, and 18 patients (27%) had a delayed compensation pattern. Systolic blood pressure was higher in patients with sustained hypoperfusion although the perfusion pattern was independent of the final volume of infarction. These results reinforce the notion that mechanisms other than hypoperfusion are at play in patients with small subcortical infarcts including the intervention of compensatory sources of blood flow. The ultimate clinical significance of these perfusion patterns remains to be determined in larger series of patients assessed longitudinally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrones (e.g. α-phenyl-N-tert-butyl nitrone; PBN) are cerebroprotective in experimental stroke. Free radical trapping is their proposed mechanism. As PBN has low radical trapping potency, we tested Sgk1 induction as another possible mechanism. PBN was injected (100 mg/kg, i.p.) into adult male rats and mice. Sgk1 was quantified in cerebral tissue by microarray, quantitative RT-PCR and western analyses. Sgk1+/+ and Sgk1-/- mice were randomized to receive PBN or saline immediately following transient (60 min) occlusion of the middle cerebral artery. Neurological deficit was measured at 24 h and 48 h and infarct volume at 48 h post-occlusion. Following systemic PBN administration, rapid induction of Sgk1 was detected by microarray (at 4 h) and confirmed by RT-PCR and phosphorylation of the Sgk1-specific substrate NDRG1 (at 6 h). PBN-treated Sgk1+/+ mice had lower neurological deficit (p<0.01) and infarct volume (p<0.01) than saline-treated Sgk1+/+ mice. PBN-treated Sgk1-/- mice did not differ from saline-treated Sgk1-/- mice. Saline-treated Sgk1-/- and Sgk1+/+ mice did not differ. Brain Sgk3:Sgk1 mRNA ratio was 1.0:10.6 in Sgk1+/+ mice. Sgk3 was not augmented in Sgk1-/- mice. We conclude that acute systemic treatment with PBN induces Sgk1 in brain tissue. Sgk1 may play a part in PBN-dependent actions in acute brain ischemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and adults with sickle cell anemia (SCA) have a higher risk of strokes compared to age- and race-matched peers. Velocity in the middle cerebral or distal internal carotid artery as measured by transcranial Doppler ultrasound is a recognized method to identify children but not adults with SCA at high-risk for first stroke. For both children and adults with SCA that have had a stroke, no methods clearly identify individuals at highest risk of recurrent strokes or an initial silent stroke, the most common neurological injury. Methods to assess cerebral hemodynamics in SCA have been utilized for decades but often required radiotracers making them not feasible for screening and longitudinal follow-up. MRI approaches that do not require exogenous contrast have been introduced and are appealing in both clinical and research scenarios. Improved neuroimaging strategies hold promise for identifying individuals with SCA at increased risk of initial and recurrent infarcts, justifying more aggressive risk-based therapy. We review the epidemiology of stroke in SCA, the impact of strokes, stroke mechanisms, and potential imaging strategies including regional and global oxygen extraction fraction, cerebral blood flow, and vessel wall imaging to identify individuals at high-risk of stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impaired cerebrovascular reactivity precedes histological and clinical evidence of CADASIL in animal models. We aimed to more fully characterise peripheral and cerebral vascular function and reactivity in a cohort of adult CADASIL patients, and explore the associations of these with conventional clinical, imaging and neuropsychological measures. A total of 22 adults with CADASIL gave informed consent to participate in an exploratory study of vascular function in CADASIL. Clinical assessment, comprehensive vascular assessment, MRI and neuropsychological testing were conducted. We measured cerebral vasoreactivity with transcranial Doppler and arterial spin labelling MRI with hypercapnia challenge. Number and volume of lacunes, subcortical hyperintensity volume, microbleeds and normalised brain volume were assessed on MRI. Analysis was exploratory and examined the associations between different markers. Cerebrovascular reactivity measured by ASL correlated with peripheral vasoreactivity measured by flow mediated dilatation. Subjects with ≥5 lacunes were older, with higher carotid intima-media thickness and had impaired cerebral and peripheral vasoreactivity. Subjects with depressive symptoms, disability or delayed processing speed also showed a trend to impaired vasoreactivity. Impaired vasoreactivity and vascular dysfunction may play a significant role in the pathophysiology of CADASIL, and vascular assessments may be useful biomarkers of severity in both longitudinal and clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Arteriolosclerosis cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) is a common type of CSVD. This study aimed to explore the factors associated with cognitive function and total MRI burden related to the disease., Methods: The demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, cognitive function score, Barthel Index (BI), blood test index, and follow-up results of arteriolosclerosis CSVD patients treated for the first time in our hospital from January 2014 to August 2022 were collected. White matter hyperintensity (WMH) Fazekas score, total MRI burden, and cerebral atrophy grade were evaluated according to brain MRI findings. Factors associated with CSVD cognitive function were analyzed by binary logistic regression. The correlative factors related to the total MRI burden of CSVD were analyzed by ordered multiple logistic regression., Results: A total of 146 patients were included in this study, of which 132 cases (90.4%) had hypertension. There were 108 patients (74.0%) with cognitive dysfunction, 97 patients (66.4%) with balance and gait disorders, and 83 patients (56.8%) with moderate-to-severe dependence in daily life (BI ≤ 60 points). Of 146 patients, 79 (54.1%) completed clinical and imaging follow-ups for a median of 3 years. The number of patients with cognitive impairment and BI ≤ 60 points after follow-up significantly increased compared with the first admission ( P < 0.001). There were also significant differences in total MRI burden ( P = 0.001), WMH Fazekas score, and cerebral atrophy grade ( P < 0.001). Mean age ( P = 0.012), median deep WMH Fazekas score ( P = 0.028), and median deep ( P < 0.001) and superficial ( P =0.002) cerebral atrophy grade of patients with cognitive impairment at first admission were all higher than those with non-cognitive impairment. Multivariate analysis showed that deep cerebral atrophy was independently and significantly associated with cognitive impairment of CSVD ( P = 0.024), and hypertension was significantly and independently associated with total MRI burden ( P = 0.001)., Conclusion: The disease course of arteriolosclerosis CSVD may be related to cognitive function and total MRI burden. Deep cerebral atrophy was an independent risk factor for cognitive dysfunction in arteriolosclerosis CSVD, and hypertension was an independent risk factor for total MRI burden., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Hua, Ma, Liu, Ji, Zhang, Xu, Chen and Mao.)

Introduction: Mixed dementia (MixD) refers to a combination of definite Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular encephalopathy. The existence of a "pure" type of vascular dementia (VaD) is controversial. There is a need to find magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics allowing the distinction between VaD and MixD. The present post-mortem 7.0-tesla MRI compares the frequency or severity and the topography of the small cerebrovascular lesions in brains of patients with VaD and with MixD. Material and methods: Based on neuropathological criteria, 14 brains were classified as VaD, 24 as MixD and 11 as controls. Three coronal sections of a cerebral hemisphere and a horizontal section of a cerebellar hemisphere underwent T2 and T2* 7.0-tesla MRI examination. The mean values and topographic distribution of white matter changes (WMCs), lacunar infarcts (LIs), cortical microbleeds (CoMBs) and cortical microinfarcts (CoMIs) were determined and compared between the different groups. Results: Compared to the controls, both VaD and MixD brains had significantly more severe WMCs and increased numbers of CoMBs and CoMIs. Lacunar infarcts predominated only in the VaD cases. On mutual comparison of VaD and MixD brains, CoMBs and CoMIs predominated in the frontal lobe and the cerebellum of VaD, while were mainly present in the occipital lobe of MixD. White matter changes predominated in the temporal lobe of MixD cases. Lacunar infarcts were significantly increased in the corona radiata and putamen of VaD patients. Conclusions: The present post-mortem MRI study shows clear differences in the distribution and the types of cerebrovascular lesions on high-field MRI, confirming that VaD and MixD are different diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascular dementia and vascular cognitive impairment have attracted more attention recently due to their association with increased risk of death and institutionalization. The purpose of the present study was to detect and identify the characteristics of cognitive impairments during the early stage of lacunar stroke. The subjects consisted of 23 consecutive first-ever acute lacunar infarction patients who were admitted to the Department of Neurology, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Taiwan, from November 2001 to October 2002. The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) were used to evaluate stroke severity and cognitive function, and assessments were performed by a neurologist and psychologist, within 10 days of stroke onset. Of the 23 patients, 21 (91.3%) had CASI scores below their respective cutoff values and all patients had cognitive impairment in at least one cognitive domain in CASI. There were no significant correlations between CASI abnormality (below the cutoff value) and patient age, education, or the interval from stroke onset. Recent memory impairment was the most often impaired cognitive domain on CASI (19 patients, 82.6%). There were significant correlations between recent memory and “attention or concentration” (correlation coefficient, 0.52; p < 0.05), and “abstraction and judgment” (correlation coefficient, 0.44; p < 0.05). The correlations between recent memory and other domains were not significant. It was concluded that cognitive impairment after acute lacunar infarct is quite common and recent memory is the most often impaired cognitive domain. This may have been caused by the location of the specific lesion as well as by the impairment in “attention or concentration” or “abstraction and judgment”.

Detection of lacunar infarcts is important because their presence indicates an increased risk of severe cerebral infarction. However, accurate identification is often hindered by the difficulty in distinguishing between lacunar infarcts and enlarged Virchow-Robin spaces. Therefore, we developed a computer-aided detection (CAD) scheme for the detection of lacunar infarcts. Although our previous CAD method indicated a sensitivity of 96.8 % with 0.71 false positives (FPs) per slice, further reduction of FPs remained an issue for the clinical application. Thus, the purpose of this study is to improve our CAD scheme by using template matching in the eigenspace. Conventional template matching is useful for the reduction of FPs, but it has the following two pitfalls: (1) It needs to maintain a large number of templates to improve the detection performance, and (2) calculation of the cross-correlation coefficient with these templates is time consuming. To solve these problems, we used template matching in the lower dimension space made by a principal component analysis. Our database comprised 1,143 T- and T-weighted images obtained from 132 patients. The proposed method was evaluated by using twofold cross-validation. By using this method, 34.1 % of FPs was eliminated compared with our previous method. The final performance indicated that the sensitivity of the detection of lacunar infarcts was 96.8 % with 0.47 FPs per slice. Therefore, the modified CAD scheme could improve FP rate without a significant reduction in the true positive rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background – White matter lesions (WMLs), asymptomatic lacunar infarcts, brain microbleeds (BMBs) and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) have been identified as silent lesions due to cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). All these markers have been individually linked to cognitive functioning, but are also strongly correlated with each other. The combined effect of these markers on cognitive function has never been studied and would possibly provide more useful information on the effect on cognitive function. Methods – Brain MRI and extensive neuropsychological assessment were performed in 189 patients at risk for cSVD (112 hypertensive patients and 77 first-ever lacunar stroke patients). We rated the presence of any asymptomatic lacunar infarct, extensive WMLs, any deep BMB, and moderate to extensive EPVS in the basal ganglia. The presence of each marker was summed to an ordinal score between 0 and 4. Associations with domains of cognitive function (memory, executive function, information processing speed and overall cognition) were analyzed with correlation analyses. Results – Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between accumulating cSVD burden and decreased performance on all cognitive domains (all p≤.001). Results remained significant for information processing speed (r=-.181, p=.013) and overall cognition (r=-.178, p=.017), after correction for age and sex. Testing of trend using linear regression analyses revealed the same results. Discussion – We tested a new approach to capture total brain damage resulting from cSVD and found that accumulation of MRI burden of cSVD is associated with decreased performance on tests of information processing speed and overall cognition, implying that accumulating brain damage is accompanied by worse cognitive functioning.

CLIPPERS (chronic lymphocytic inflammation with pontine perivascular enhancement responsive to steroids) is a recently describe chronic inflammatory disorder involving the brainstem with characteristic imaging findings. Since it was originally described in 2002, only a handful of cases have been reported in the literature. We describe two additional cases of CLIPPERS with characteristic clinical and radiological findings. Besides the previously described MR findings, one of the cases also demonstrated multiple basal ganglia lacunar infarcts, a finding which has not been previously reported. We hypothesize that the lacunar infarcts are caused by this chronic infiltrative perivascular disease process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: White matter lesions (WMLs), asymptomatic lacunar infarcts, brain microbleeds (BMBs), and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) have been identified as silent lesions due to cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). All these markers have been individually linked to cognitive functioning, but are also strongly correlated with each other. The combined effect of these markers on cognitive function has never been studied and would possibly provide more useful information on the effect on cognitive function. Methods: Brain MRI and extensive neuropsychological assessment were performed in 189 patients at risk for cSVD (112 hypertensive patients and 77 first-ever lacunar stroke patients). We rated the presence of any asymptomatic lacunar infarct, extensive WMLs, any deep BMB, and moderate to extensive EPVS in the basal ganglia. The presence of each marker was summed to an ordinal score between 0 and 4. Associations with domains of cognitive function (memory, executive function, information processing speed, and overall cognition) were analyzed with correlation analyses. Results: Correlation analyses revealed significant associations between accumulating cSVD burden and decreased performance on all cognitive domains (all p=0.001). Results remained significant for information processing speed (r=-0.181, p=0.013) and overall cognition (r=-0.178, p=0.017), after correction for age and sex. Testing of trend using linear regression analyses revealed the same results. Discussion: We tested a new approach to capture total brain damage resulting from cSVD and found that accumulation of MRI burden of cSVD is associated with decreased performance on tests of information processing speed and overall cognition, implying that accumulating brain damage is accompanied by worse cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale and Objectives: The detection and management of asymptomatic lacunar infarcts on magnetic resonance (MR) images are important tasks for radiologists to ensure the prevention of severe cerebral infarctions. However, accurate identification of the lacunar infarcts on MR images is a difficult task for the radiologists. Therefore the purpose of this study was to develop a computer-aided diagnosis scheme for the detection of lacunar infarcts to assist radiologists’ interpretation as a “second opinion.” Materials and Methods: Our database comprised 1,143 T1- and 1,143 T2-weighted images obtained from 132 patients. The locations of the lacunar infarcts were determined by experienced neuroradiologists. We first segmented the cerebral region in a T1-weighted image by using a region growing technique for restricting the search area of lacunar infarcts. For identifying the initial lacunar infarcts candidates, a top-hat transform and multiple-phase binarization were then applied to the T2-weighted image within the segmented cerebral region. For eliminating the false positives (FPs), we determined 12 features—the locations x and y, signal intensity differences in the T1- and T2-weighted images, nodular components from a scale of 1 to 4, and nodular and linear components from a scale of 1 to 4. The nodular components and the linear components were obtained using a filter bank technique. The rule-based schemes and a support vector machine with 12 features were applied to the regions of the initial candidates for distinguishing between lacunar infarcts and FPs. Results: Our computerized scheme was evaluated by using a holdout method. The sensitivity of the detection of lacunar infarcts was 96.8% (90/93) with 0.76 FP per image. Conclusions: Our computerized scheme would be useful in assisting radiologists for identifying lacunar infarcts in MR images. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In contrast to ischemic heart diseases, the relationship between serum cholesterol and cerebrovascular diseases has been equivocal. This contradiction is due to the heterogeneous nature of strokes, therefore the lipid-stroke relationship should be analyzed considering subtypes of cerebrovascular diseases. Focusing mostly on the results of research in humans, we summarize the current view on the relationship between serum cholesterol and cerebrovascular diseases. In this review, we give an overview on epidemiological data, diagnostic methods and results of some clinical therapeutic trials. We focus on the role of cholesterol in large-vessel (carotid) atherosclerosis, small-vessel cerebral diseases (lacunar infarcts, leukoaraiosis and cerebral microbleeds) and on the effects of cholesterol on the microvascular system, evaluated by studies on cerebrovascular reactivity. We also enlist new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that may have a role in the management of patients with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular diseases in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]