Relationship between white matter lesion and cognitive impairment in the elderly according to their arterial spin labeling / 中华老年心脑血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in matter lesion (WML) and cognitive impairment by arterial spin labeling (ASL).Methods Fourteen WML patients served as a WML group and 9 WML-free subjects served as a control group.Their neuropsychology was assessed and their rCBF was measured by ASL.Results The MoCA score,positive rate of symbol digit modalities test (SDMT),verbal fluency test (VFT) and digital span test forward and backward (DST F and B) were significantly lower while the trail making test-A (TMT-A) score and positive rate of Stroop B test and psychomotion speed test were significantly higher in WML group than in control group (P＜0.05,P＜0.01).The rCBF in regional WML was significantly slower in right and left semioval center,anterior and posterior horn of right and left lateral ventricle than that in normal white matter region (P＜0.01).The rCBF in WML was positively related with DST F and B (P＜0.05).The rCBF in NAWM was positively related with VFT (P＜0.01).Conclusion ASL can show the relationship between rCBF and cognitive impairment,especially executive function,attention and memory in elderly WML patients and decreased rCBF can thus increase their risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.