Cortical thickness and cognitive performance in asymptomatic unilateral carotid artery stenosis
Alina Nickel1,2, Simon Kessner3, Andreas Niebuhr3
1Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany. a.nickel@uke.de.
Background:
We investigated changes of cortical thickness and its association with cognitive performance in patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis without ischemic brain lesions.
Methods:
We studied 25 patients with unilateral carotid artery stenosis ≥50% and 25 age-matched controls. All subjects underwent T1-weighted MRI, and cortical thickness was measured in 33 regions of interest in each hemisphere, as well as in brain regions belonging to the vascular territory of the middle cerebral artery (MCA). General linear mixed models were fitted to the dependent variable cortical thickness. Cognitive assessment comprised the Stroop Test and Trail Making Test B.
Results:
In the linear mixed model, presence of carotid stenosis had no effect on cortical thickness. There was a significant interaction of stenosis and region with a trend towards lower cortical thickness in the MCA region on the side of carotid stenosis. Patients with carotid stenosis performed significantly worse on the Stroop test than controls, but there was no correlation with cortical thickness.
Conclusion:
In patients with carotid stenosis without ischemic brain lesions, neither a clear pattern of reduced cortical thickness nor an association of cortical thickness with cognitive function was observed. Our data do not support the hypothesized association of cortical thinning and cognitive impairment in carotid stenosis.
More Related Videos
09:11Performing Permanent Distal Middle Cerebral with Common Carotid Artery Occlusion in Aged Rats to Study Cortical Ischemia with Sustained Disability
Published on: February 23, 2016
05:12A Mouse Model for Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Based on Needle-guided Asymmetric Bilateral Common Carotid Artery Stenosis
Published on: November 22, 2024
Related Concept Videos
Cognitive Dissonance
Mitral Stenosis I: Introduction
Mitral Stenosis III: Medical Management
Mitral Stenosis IV: Nursing Management
Language and Cognition
Cognitive Therapy
