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Cortical superficial siderosis: Prevalence and biomarker profile in a memory clinic population
Sara Shams1, Juha Martola2, Andreas Charidimou2
1From the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Division of Medical Imaging and Technology (S.S., J.M., L.C., T.G., M.S., Y.F., P.A., M.K.-W.), and Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences, and Society (L.-O.W.), Karolinska Institutet; Department of Radiology (S.S., J.M., L.C., T.G., M.S., Y.F., P.A., M.K.-W.) and Division of Clinical Geriatrics (L.-O.W.), Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; and Hemorrhagic Stroke Research Program (A.C.), Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital Stroke Research Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston. sara.shams@ki.se.
Objective:
To gain further insight into cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), a new hemorrhagic neuroimaging marker of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), and to investigate the clinical, neuroimaging, genetic, and CSF biomarker profile of cSS in a large, consecutive memory clinic series.
Methods:
We included 1,504 memory clinic patients undergoing dementia investigation including a brain MRI in our center. Routine CSF biomarker analysis was performed in 1,039 patients and APOE genotyping in 520 patients. MRIs were systematically evaluated for presumed marker of small vessel disease: cSS, cerebral microbleeds, enlarged perivascular spaces, white matter hyperintensities, and lacunes.
Results:
cSS was detected in 40 patients (2.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.9-3.6); cSS was focal in 33 cases (2.2%; 95% CI 1.5-3.1) and disseminated in 7 (0.5%; 95% CI 0.2-1). Vascular dementia had the highest cSS prevalence (13%; 95% CI 5.4-24.9), followed by Alzheimer disease (5%; 95% CI 3.1-7.5). The most commonly affected area was the occipital lobe (70%; 95% CI 53.5-83.4). cSS was associated with lobar cerebral microbleeds (odds ratio [OR] 7.9; 95% CI 3.4-18.1; p < 0.001), high-degree centrum semiovale perivascular spaces (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.2-2.6; p = 0.008), and white matter hyperintensities (OR 1.5; 95% CI 1.0-2.2; p = 0.062). APOE ε4/4 genotype was more common in cSS cases compared to those without. CSF β-amyloid 42 was lower in patients with cSS (coefficient -0.09; 95% CI -0.15 to -0.03; p = 0.004).
Conclusions:
Our large series of memory clinic patients provides evidence that cSS is related to cerebrovascular disease and may be a manifestation of severe CAA, even in patients without intracerebral hemorrhage.
