Cognitive Impairment , Neuroimaging and Inflammatory Markers in Patients With Subcortical Ischemic Vascular Disease

SIVD is characterised by extensive cerebral white matter lesions (WML) and lacunar infarcts in deep grey and white matter structures. The relationship between SIVD and cognition is unclear, in part because of methodological inconsistencies across studies. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a non-invasive water diffusion technique and can be used for quantitatively measuring the degree and directionality of the displacement distribution of water molecules. 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is a valuable tool for the assessment of several biochemical compounds in the brain in vivo, such as N-acetylaspartate (NAA), myoinositol (mI), Choline (Cho) and Creatine (Cr). There were few reports considering the relationship among MRS, DTI and cognitive impairment of SIVD. Combining MRS with DTI may provide valuable information about the pathophysiological changes underlying DTI abnormalities and help us to better understand the SIVD process. It has been proposed that the pathogenesis of SIVD related to cerebral small vessel disease caused by various mechanisms. Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of SIVD. The examination of inflammatory markers in relation to VaD might be benefit to early treatment. In this study we applied neuropsychological tests, conventional MRI scanning, DTI, 1H-MRS techniques and inflammatory markers to estimate neuropsychological profile and white matter characteristics of imaging in patients with SIVD. Moreover, the relationship between WML and cognitive function impairment was also investigated. It could be possible to gain reliable data which is benefit to early diagnosis and treatment of cognitive impairment in SIVD.