Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 2, 2026
Evaluation of the Cognitive Performance of Hypertensive Patients with Silent Cerebrovascular Lesions
Published on: April 23, 2021
Associations between cerebral blood flow and structural and functional brain imaging measures in individuals with
Chan-Mi Kim1, Rachel L Alvarado1, Kimberly Stephens1
1Brain Aging and Dementia (BAnD) Laboratory, MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
Abstract:
Reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF), an indicator of neurovascular processes and metabolic demands, is a common finding in Alzheimer's disease. However, little is known about what contributes to CBF deficits in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We examine regional CBF differences in 17 MCI compared with 21 age-matched cognitively healthy older adults. Next, we examined associations between CBF, white matter lesion (WML) volume, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, and cortical thickness to better understand whether altered CBF was detectable before other markers and the potential mechanistic underpinnings of CBF deficits in MCI. MCI had significantly reduced CBF, whereas cortical thickness and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation were not affected. Reduced CBF was associated with the WML volume but not associated with other measures. Given the presumed vascular etiology of WML and relative worsening of vascular health in MCI, it may suggest CBF deficits result from early vascular as opposed to metabolic deficits in MCI. These findings may support vascular mechanisms as an underlying component of cognitive impairment.
