Yoshita Mitsuhiro, Fletcher Evan, DeCarli Charles
Imaging of Dementia and Aging Laboratory, Department of Neurology and Center for Neuroscience, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA 95817, USA.
Top Magn Reson Imaging. 2005 Dec;16(6):399-407. doi: 10.1097/01.rmr.0000245456.98029.a8.
Cerebrovascular disease is common and associated with cognitive deficits and increased risk for dementia. Until recently, only limited attention has focused on advances in imaging techniques to better define and quantify the spectrum of asymptomatic cerebrovascular disease commonly seen on magnetic resonance imaging, such as abnormal white matter signals. Abnormal signals in cerebral white matter, although nonspecific, are increased in prevalence and severity in association with aging and cerebrovascular risk factors among older individuals. The ubiquitous occurrence of these abnormal white matter signals commonly referred to as white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and the association with cerebrovascular risk and cognitive impairment among older individuals make scientific evaluation of WMHs an important and much needed avenue of research. In this section, we review current methods of WMH analysis. Strengths and limitation of both quantitative and qualitative methods are discussed initially, followed by a brief review of current magnetic resonance imaging segmentation and mapping techniques that make it possible to assess the anatomical location of WMHs. We conclude by discussing future analytic methods designed to better understand the pathophysiology and cognitive consequences of WMHs.
脑血管疾病很常见，与认知缺陷及痴呆风险增加相关。直到最近，仅有有限的关注集中在成像技术的进展上，以更好地定义和量化磁共振成像中常见的无症状脑血管疾病谱，比如异常白质信号。脑白质中的异常信号虽不具有特异性，但在老年人中，其患病率和严重程度会随着衰老及脑血管危险因素而增加。这些通常被称为白质高信号（WMHs）的异常白质信号普遍存在，且与老年人的脑血管风险和认知障碍相关，这使得对WMHs进行科学评估成为一个重要且急需的研究途径。在本节中，我们回顾了当前WMH分析的方法。首先讨论了定量和定性方法的优缺点，接着简要回顾了当前的磁共振成像分割和映射技术，这些技术使得评估WMHs的解剖位置成为可能。我们通过讨论旨在更好地理解WMHs的病理生理学和认知后果的未来分析方法来结束本文。
