De Reuck J, Decoo D, Boon P, Strijckmans K, Goethals P, Lemahieu I
Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Eur Neurol. 1996;36(1):20-4. doi: 10.1159/000117194.
Leukoaraiosis, found on computed tomographic scans of the brain, is suspected to be of ischemic origin and is frequently associated with progressive decline of cognitive functions in elderly persons. Some of them also develop late-onset epilepsy. The present positron emission tomographic study investigates if these seizures in mentally nonaffected patients with leukoaraiosis are related to an underlying ischemic process. Patients with leukoaraiosis and late-onset seizures have a more important decline of regional blood flow and oxygen consumption in the cortical areas, compared to normal age-matched controls, to patients with cryptogenic symptomatic late-onset epilepsy and to patients with a similar degree of leukoaraiosis but without epilepsy. The present study suggests that both the late-onset seizures and the leukoaraiosis in patients with, at that time, no obvious mental deterioration are premonitory signs of an encephalopathy of unknown origin, possibly leading to cognitive decline.
脑白质疏松症在脑部计算机断层扫描中被发现，怀疑其起源于缺血，并且在老年人中常与认知功能的进行性衰退相关。其中一些人还会发展为迟发性癫痫。目前的正电子发射断层扫描研究调查了在无精神障碍的脑白质疏松症患者中，这些癫痫发作是否与潜在的缺血过程有关。与年龄匹配的正常对照组、隐源性症状性迟发性癫痫患者以及脑白质疏松程度相似但无癫痫的患者相比，患有脑白质疏松症和迟发性癫痫的患者皮质区域的局部血流和氧消耗下降更为明显。本研究表明，在当时无明显精神衰退的患者中，迟发性癫痫发作和脑白质疏松症都是不明原因脑病的先兆症状，可能导致认知衰退。
