Year: 2014
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To determine antemortem MRI findings associated with microinfarcts at autopsy. METHODS: Patients with microinfarcts (n = 22) and patients without microinfarcts (n = 44) who underwent antemortem MRI were identified from a dementia clinic-based, population-based, and community clinic-based autopsy cohort. The microinfarct and no-microinfarct groups were matched on age at MRI, age at death, sex, APOE status, Mini-Mental State Examination score, and pathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer disease. Brain infarcts were assessed on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) MRI. White matter hyperintensities on FLAIR MRI and hippocampal volumes on T1-weighted MRI were quantified using automated methods. A subset of subjects with microinfarcts (n = 15) and a matched group of subjects without microinfarcts (n = 15) had serial T1-weighted MRIs and were included in an analysis of global and regional brain atrophy rates using automated methods. RESULTS: The presence of cortical (p = 0.03) and subcortical (p = 0.02) infarcts on antemortem MRI was associated with presence of microinfarcts at autopsy. Higher numbers of cortical (p = 0.05) and subcortical (p = 0.03) infarcts on antemortem MRI were also associated with presence of microinfarcts. Presence of microinfarcts was not associated with white matter hyperintensities and cross-sectional hippocampal volume on antemortem MRI. Whole-brain and regional precuneus, motor, and somatosensory atrophy rates were higher in subjects with microinfarcts compared to subjects without microinfarcts. CONCLUSIONS: Microinfarcts increase brain atrophy rates independent of Alzheimer disease pathology. Association between microinfarct pathology and macroinfarcts on MRI suggests either common risk factors or a shared pathophysiology and potentially common preventive targets.
Source: Neurology
Institutions: Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic in Florida
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Alzheimer's Association, Pfizer, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, CurePSP, TauRx Pharmaceuticals, University of Oxford, H. Lundbeck A/S, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Awards: Sex-specific Risk for Vascular Dysfunction and Cognitive Decline, G1880935189, Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCaTS), Pathological basis of MRS and DTI changes in neurodegenerative dementia, Alzheimers Disease Patient Registry, Evaluating and Extending Our Hypothetical Model of Alzheimer's Biomarkers, G5209990037, G5484535055, G5884129571, Genetics and Molecular Biology of Parkinsonism, Brain Aging and Alzheimer's Biomarker Classification Using Amyloid PET, tau PET, and Neurodegeneration on MRI: Developing the ATN system, G9000005508, G9000038603, G9000039018, G9000090565, G9000122335, G9000148343, G9000171383, G9000211665, G9000244707, G9000268609, G9000281426, G9000338148, Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
OpenAlex ID: W2088580942