Abstract
The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between subcortical vascular disease and brain atrophy in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mixed dementia (i.e., AD and subcortical vascular disease together). MRI was performed on 77 cognitively normal (CN) subjects, 50 AD and 13 mixed dementia patients. Subcortical vascular disease was determined by white matter hyperintensities (WMH) volume and presence of subcortical lacunes. Brain atrophy was measured using total brain cortical gray matter (CGM), entorhinal cortex (ERC) and hippocampal volumes. CGM volume, but not ERC or hippocampal volume was inversely related to WMH volume in patients and controls. In contrast, no relationship was detected between CGM, ERC, or hippocampal volumes and subcortical lacunes. Furthermore, no interaction was found between WMH and diagnosis on cortical atrophy, implying that WMH affect cortical atrophy indifferently of group. These results suggest that subcortical vascular disease, manifested as WMH, may affect cortical atrophy more than ERC and hippocampal atrophy. Further, AD pathology and subcortical vascular disease may independently affect cortical atrophy.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 553-559 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Neurobiology of Aging |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2005 |
Keywords
- Alzheimer's disease
- Subcortical lacunes
- Subcortical vascular disease
- The cortex
- The entorhinal cortex
- The hippocampus
- White matter hyperintensities
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Biological Psychiatry
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Neurology
- Psychology(all)