OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to examine white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in the brains of elderly individuals, the rate of progression, the anatomic regions most vulnerable, and the predictors of change. METHODS We examined 51 healthy volunteers (mean age 71 years) with T2-weighted brain MRI on the same scanner 3 years apart. WMH volumes were determined by an automated method, an...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cerebral white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are believed to be the consequence of small vessel disease, and it is uncertain whether their extent predicts the risk of dementia in patients with vascular disease history. Method- Brain MRI was performed in 226 participants of the PROGRESS study. WMH severity was assessed using a visual rating scale. During follow-up, patien...

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 matt...

OBJECTIVE White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are common on brain MRI of the elderly. Their size ranges from punctate to early confluent to confluent lesions. While this increase in extension is frequently seen as evidence for a continuum of changes, histological data and clinical follow-up suggest differences in underlying pathology and their progression. METHODS We tested this hypothesis by...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the influence of deep white matter hyperintensities (DWMH) and periventricular white matter hyperintensities (PVWMH) on progression of cognitive decline in non-demented elderly people. METHODS All data come from the nested MRI sub-study of the PROspective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER). We performed a 3 year follow up study on 554 subjects of th...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE A panencephalopathic type of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (pCJD) is characterized by the extensive involvement of the cerebral white matter as well as the cerebral gray matter. It has been a point of controversy, however, whether the white matter changes represent primary or secondary degeneration. The aim of this study was to elucidate, by using MR images and histologic exa...