Characteristic of brain microbleeds in Alzheimer's disease / 上海交通大学学报（医学版）

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the differences of brain microbleeds among Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnesia mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and normal control (NC). Methods: Eighteen AD patients, 28 aMCI patients and 30 age-matched NC were recruited in the study. The location and number of microbleeds was recorded in the brain according to the susceptibility-weighted images. The bilateral frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, temporal lobe, and thalamus were manually mapped on 3D-MR imaging. The number of cases with microbleeds and the number of microbleeds in each lobe were calculated and compared among three groups using the chi-square test and ANOVA. Results: Significant differences on case number with microbleeds were found between AD group and NC group in the frontal lobe (P=0.005), the temporal lobe (P=0.005) and whole brain (P=0.004), and between aMCI group and NC group in the frontal lobe (P=0.048). It also showed significant differences among three groups in the frontal lobe (P=0.006), the temporal lobe (P=0.006) and whole brain (P=0.016). For the microbleeds counts, significant differences were found between AD group and NC group in the frontal lobe (P=0.004) and the temporal lobe (P=0.049), and between AD group and NC group in the frontal lobe (P=0.044). It also had significant differences among three groups in the frontal lobe (P=0.016), the temporal lobe (P=0.038) and whole brain (P=0.048). Conclusion: The AD group has more significant microbleeds in frontal and parietal lobes in comparison to NC group. The quantization of cerebral microbleeds may be a potential biomarker for AD diagnosis.