White matter hyperintensities and their penumbra lie along a continuum of injury in the aging brain.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Aging is accompanied by clinically silent cerebral white matter injury identified through white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR)- and diffusion tensor imaging-based measures of white matter integrity. The temporal course of FLAIR and diffusion tensor imaging changes within WMHs and their less-injured periphery (ie, their penumbra), however, has not been fully studied. We used longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging and FLAIR to explore these changes.

Methods

One hundred fifteen participants, aged 73.7±6.7 years, received clinical evaluations and MRIs on 2 dates. WMHs and fractional anisotropy (FA) maps were produced from FLAIR and diffusion tensor imaging and coregistered to a standardized space. Each distinct

SUBMITTER: Maillard P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4102626 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature