White Matter Hyperintensities and Hypobaric Exposure

Demonstrate occupational exposure to non-hypoxic hypobaria is associated with subcortical white matter hyperintensity (WMH) on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: Eighty-three altitude chamber personnel (PHY), 105 U-2 pilots (U2P), and 148 age- cont...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McGuire, Stephen A, Sherman, Paul M, Wijtenburg, S A, Rowland, Laura M, Grogan, Patrick M, Sladky, John H, Robinson, Andrew Y, Kochunov, Peter V
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
AIR FORCE PERSONNEL
BRAIN
DECOMPRESSION SICKNESS
DEGENERATION(PHYSIOLOGY)
DIAGNOSIS(MEDICINE)
DOC(DOCTORATE DEGREE CONTROLS)
EXPOSURE(PHYSIOLOGY)
FLAIR(FLUID ATTENUATED INVERSION RECOVERY)
HYPOBARIA
HYPOBARIC CONDITIONS
HYPOXIA
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
Medicine and Medical Research
NEURODEGENERATION
NEUROLOGY
OCCUPATIONAL MEDICINE
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
Stress Physiology
TRAUMA
WMH(WHITE MATTER HYPERINTENSITY)
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Summary:Demonstrate occupational exposure to non-hypoxic hypobaria is associated with subcortical white matter hyperintensity (WMH) on fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: Eighty-three altitude chamber personnel (PHY), 105 U-2 pilots (U2P), and 148 age- controlled and health-matched doctorate degree controls (DOC) underwent high-resolution MRI. Subcortical WMH burden was quantified as count and volume of subcortical WMH lesions after transformation of images to the Talairach-atlas-based stereotactic frame. Results: Subcortical WMH are more prevalent in PHY (volume p=0.011/count p=0.019) and U2P (volume p less than 0.001/count p less than 0.001) when compared to DOC, while PHY are not significantly different than U2P. Interpretation: This study provides strong evidence that non-hypoxic hypobaric exposure may induce subcortical WMH in a young, healthy population lacking other risk factors for WMH and adds this occupational exposure to other environmentally related potential causes of WMH. Published in Annals of Neurology, v76 n5 p719-726, November 2014.