Maalikjy Akkawi Nabil, Borroni B, Agosti C, Magoni M, Broli M, Pezzini A, Padovani A
Dept. of Neurological Sciences, University of Brescia, P.za Spedali Civili, 1, 25100 Brescia, Italy.
J Neurol. 2005 May;252(5):559-63. doi: 10.1007/s00415-005-0689-z. Epub 2005 Feb 23.
The association of decreased cerebral blood flow with the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been a recent target of interest. By using neuroimaging techniques, growing attention has been devoted to the identification of preclinical AD. In this study, color duplex sonography of cervical arteries was used to measure mean cerebral blood flow (CBF) on 55 amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients. Two years after enrollment, excluding patients who progressed to dementia other than AD, two subgroups were identified, patients who developed AD (MCI converters) and patients with preserved cognitive and functional level (MCI non-converters). Examining the mean difference of CBF measured at baseline in the two subgroups obtained, a significant difference was noticed (MCI converters 539.3 +/- 114.3 vs MCI non converters 636.0 +/- 143.9, p < 0.05). MCI patients with CBF higher than median value (558 ml/min) had lower risk of developing AD (specificity 72.2%, sensitivity 68.4%) within a two year follow-up. Ultrasonography of the cervical arteries is a simple, non invasive and widespread technique useful in detecting CBF decline during the MCI stage, thus identifying patients who later will convert to AD.
