Imaging cerebral microbleeds using susceptibility weighted imaging: One step toward detecting vascular dementia

• Published in: Journal of magnetic resonance imaging 2010-01, Vol.31 (1), p.142-148
• Main Authors: Ayaz, Muhammad, Boikov, Alexander S., Haacke, E. Mark, Kido, Daniel K., Kirsch, Wolff M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cerebral Hemorrhage - complications; Cerebral Hemorrhage - diagnosis; cerebral microbleeds; Cognition Disorders - complications; Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; Dementia, Vascular - complications; Dementia, Vascular - diagnosis; Female; Humans; Image Enhancement - methods; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; imaging; Magnetic Resonance Angiography - methods; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; susceptibility weighted imaging; vascular dementia
• ISSN: 1053-1807; 1522-2586
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.22001

Purpose: To monitor changes in the number of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in a longitudinal study of healthy controls (HC) and mild‐cognitively impaired (MCI) patients using susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). Materials and Methods: SWI was used to image 28 HC and 75 MCI patients annually at 1.5 Tesla over a 4‐year period. Magnitude and phase data were used to visualize CMBs for the first and last scans of 103 subjects. Results: Preliminary analysis revealed that none of the 28 HC had more than three CMBs. In the 75 MCI patients, five subjects had more than three CMBs in both first and last scans, while one subject had more than three bleeds only in the last scan. In five of these six MCI patients, the number of CMBs increased over time and all six went on to develop progressive cognitive impairment (PCI). Of the 130 total CMBs seen in the last scans of the six MCI cases, most were less than 4 mm in diameter. Conclusion: SWI can reveal small CMBs on the order of 1 mm in diameter and this technique can be used to follow their development longitudinally. Monitoring CMBs may be a means by which to evaluate patients for the presence of microvascular disease that leads to PCI. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;31:142–148. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.