Effects of white matter lesions on brain perfusion in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of white matter lesions on regional cerebral blood flow in subjects with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.


PATIENTS AND METHODS
Seventy-five subjects with mild cognitive impairment (36 men and 39 women; mean age, 78.1 years) were included in the study. We used the Mini-Mental State Examination to assess cognitive function. All subjects underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and 99mTc ethylcysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography. Subjects were stratified based on the presence or absence of white matter lesions on magnetic resonance imaging. Statistical parametric mapping of differences in regional cerebral blood flow between the two groups were assessed by voxel-by-voxel group analysis using SPM8.


RESULTS
Of all 75 subjects with mild cognitive impairment, 46 (61.3%) had mild to moderate white matter lesions. The prevalence of hypertension tended to be higher in subjects with white matter lesions than in those without white matter lesions. Mini-Mental State Examination scores were significantly lower in subjects with white matter lesions than in those without white matter lesions. Subjects with white matter lesions had decreased regional cerebral blood flow mainly in the frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobes, as well as the putamen, compared to those without white matter lesions.


CONCLUSION
In subjects with mild cognitive impairment, white matter lesions were associated with cognitive impairment and mainly frontal lobe brain function.
['Ishibashi|Masato|M|', 'Kimura|Noriyuki|N|', 'Aso|Yasuhiro|Y|', 'Matsubara|Etsuro|E|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000369:Aged, 80 and over D000544:Alzheimer Disease D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation D003071:Cognition D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction D003545:Cysteine D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D015609:Organotechnetium Compounds D010477:Perfusion D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon D066127:White Matter
White matter lesions Mild cognitive impairment Magnetic resonance imaging Brain perfusion SPECT Statistical parametric mapping 8