Longstreth W T
Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
J Neural Transm Suppl. 1998;53:9-16. doi: 10.1007/978-3-7091-6467-9_2.
Characterize brain abnormalities in elderly people using cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Comprehensive lists of people 65 years and older living in the United States of America were used to obtain a representative sample of 5,888 community-dwelling participants who underwent extensive standardized evaluations. A subset of 3,660 underwent MRI. Without clinical information, neuroradiologists evaluated each scan.
Enlarged ventricles and sulci and prominent white matter changes were relatively common, even in a subset of the healthiest participants. Infarcts 3 mm or greater were present in 31% of all participants and 28% of those without a history of stroke. Most infarcts were clinically silent, small, and in the basal ganglia. Among those without a history of stroke, white matter changes were common but mostly of a mild degree. These changes were independently related to greater age, silent stroke, higher systolic blood pressure, lower forced expiratory volume in one second and income less than $50,000 per year. Changes were also associated with dysfunction, especially of cognition and the lower extremities.
MRI abnormalities are common in elderly people. Cautious interpretation is appropriate because participants are healthier than the general population and the study's design is cross-sectional.
利用头颅磁共振成像（MRI）对老年人的脑部异常进行特征描述。
使用居住在美国65岁及以上人群的综合名单，获取了5888名接受广泛标准化评估的社区居住参与者的代表性样本。其中3660人接受了MRI检查。在没有临床信息的情况下，神经放射科医生对每次扫描进行评估。
脑室和脑沟扩大以及明显的白质变化相对常见，即使在最健康的参与者子集中也是如此。在所有参与者中，31%存在3毫米或更大的梗死灶，在没有中风病史的参与者中这一比例为28%。大多数梗死灶在临床上无症状、较小且位于基底节。在没有中风病史的人群中，白质变化很常见，但大多程度较轻。这些变化与年龄较大、无症状性中风、收缩压较高、一秒用力呼气量较低以及年收入低于5万美元独立相关。这些变化还与功能障碍有关，尤其是认知和下肢功能障碍。
MRI异常在老年人中很常见。由于参与者比一般人群更健康且研究设计为横断面研究，因此谨慎解读是合适的。
