ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the lesionsin theleft thalamus and to explore their correlation with executive functionin patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease(SIVD)by using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods Fourteen patients with vascular dementia (VaD), 14 patients with vas-cular cognitive impairment without dementia(VCIND)and 14 normal controls (NC) were recruited. The quantitative analy-sis of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), Choline (Cho), myoinositol (MI) and Creatine (Cr) resonance signals in region of interests (ROI) in the left thalamus were measured. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values in the same region were examined by using DTI. The relationship were analyzedamong the MRS, DTI ratios and cognitive impairment reflect-ed in MMSE and trail making test(TMT). Results The NAA/Cr ratio showed a gradual decrease in the left thalamus of VaD andVCIND patients compared with controls(F=3.656, P=0.038). There was no significant difference in NAA/Cr ra- tiobetween VaD and VCIND patients.Compared with controls, patients with VaD and VCIND demonstrated increased MD value in the left thalamus(F=3.882, P=0.030).There was no significant difference in MD value between VaD and VCIND patients (P>0.05). There were no correlations between NAA/Cr, MI/Cr, Cho/Cr value and DTI parameters in the ROI (P>0.05). TMTb time was positively associated with Cho/Cr(r=0.520,P=0.001 ) and with MD value in the left thalamus (r=0.305, P=0.044). Conclusions Combination of 1H-MRS with DTI can provide the valuable informationon the potential lesions in the thalamus in patients with SIVD. The Cho/Cr and MD values in the leftthalamus may be correlated with ex-ecutive function.