Prospectively Collected Cardiovascular Biomarkers and White Matter Hyperintensity Volume in Ischemic Stroke Patients

Two cases report on the relationship between white matter hyperintensity volume and cognitive dysfunction in cerebral small vessel disease based on magnetic resonance imaging

RATIONALE

With the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, most of the research tends to find that there is a significant positive correlation between white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and cognitive dysfunction in cerebral small vessel vascular disease. In this paper, we report 2 cases of cerebral small vessel disease with significant differences in cognitive function and analyze them by multidimensional assessment using imaging technology so as to provide a methodological reference for identifying and diagnosing the causes of differences in cognitive function in cerebral small vessel disease patients.

PATIENT CONCERNS

Patient 1 was a 64-year-old middle-aged man who presented 10 years ago with slow reaction time, memory loss, and loss of self-care ability, and MRI suggested multiple ischemic infarct foci with cerebral white matter changes. Patient 2 was a 69-year-old middle-aged woman, who did not have any significant abnormalities in cognitive function, and imaging suggested multiple ischemic foci, infarct foci, and cerebral white matter degeneration.

DIAGNOSIS

MRI showed a large fusion of high signal in the cerebral white matter in both patients, which belonged to the category of cerebral small vessel disease according to the Fazekas classification of grade 3.

INTERVENTIONS

We used imaging techniques to compare the 2 MRI brain white matter high signals in a multidimensional manner and further compared the differences in cognitive functioning between the 2 in terms of brain age, brain functional networks, focal loading of white matter fiber tracts, and neuropsychological scales.

OUTCOMES

Brain age difference was assessed by whole-brain level and brain function network, white matter fiber bundle lesion load, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mini-Mental State Examination scale scores; the results suggested that patient 1 had relatively poor cognitive function.

LESSONS

In this paper, we concluded that the volume of high white matter signal in WMH is not positively correlated with the severity of cognitive impairment. In addition to cerebral WMHs, we believe that alterations in cerebral network connectivity and white matter microstructure may be the neuroimaging basis of cognitive decline in patients with WMH, which may provide a new idea for the early diagnosis of cognitive function in patients with cerebral small vessel disease.

Validation of external and internal exposome of the findings associated to cerebral small vessel disease: A Mendelian randomization study

The exposome characterizes all environmental exposures and their impact on a disease. To determine the causally-associated components of the exposome for cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), we performed mendelian randomization analysis of 5365 exposures on six clinical and subclinical CSVD measures. We found statistically significant evidence (FDR-corrected P < 0.05) that hypertension, high cholesterol, longer television-watching time, lower educational qualifications, younger age of first sexual intercourse, smoking, reduced pulmonary function, higher subjective overall health rating, and frequent tiredness were associated with increased risk of intracerebral hemorrhage or small vessel stroke. Adiposity, diabetes, frequent alcoholic drinks, higher white blood cell count and neutrophil count were significantly associated with higher risk of non-lobar hemorrhage or small vessel stroke, but not lobar hemorrhage. Hypertension, higher arm or leg fat-free mass and higher sitting height were significantly associated with higher white matter hyperintensities. The results were robust to sensitivity analyses and showed no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy. We also identified 41 exposures suggestively associated (uncorrected P < 0.05) with multiple CSVD measures as the "the CSVD exposome". This exposome-wide association study provides insight into CSVD development and prevention.