Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2025
Assessing Cortical Cerebral Microinfarcts on High Resolution MR Images
Published on: November 20, 2015
Assessment of Small Vessel Function Using 7T MRI in Patients With Sporadic Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: The
Hilde Van Den Brink1, Stanley Pham1, Jeroen C Siero1
1From the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery (H.V.D.B., L.O., G.J.B.), UMC Utrecht Brain Center; Department of Radiology (S.P., J.C.S., T.A., J.H., J.J.Z.), Center for Image Sciences, University Medical Center Utrecht; Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging Amsterdam (J.C.S.); Image Sciences Institute (H.K.), University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands; Brain Research Imaging Centre (J.M.W.), Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, UK Dementia Research Institute Centre at the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (M.D.), University Hospital, LMU Munich; Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy) (M.D.); and German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE) (M.D.), Germany.
Background And Objectives:
Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) is a major cause of stroke and dementia, but little is known about disease mechanisms at the level of the small vessels. 7T-MRI allows assessing small vessel function in vivo in different vessel populations. We hypothesized that multiple aspects of small vessel function are altered in patients with cSVD and that these abnormalities relate to disease burden.
Methods:
Patients and controls participated in a prospective observational cohort study, the ZOOM@SVDs study. Small vessel function measures on 7T-MRI included perforating artery blood flow velocity and pulsatility index in the basal ganglia and centrum semiovale, vascular reactivity to visual stimulation in the occipital cortex, and reactivity to hypercapnia in the gray and white matter. Lesion load on 3T-MRI and cognitive function were used to assess disease burden.
Results:
Forty-six patients with sporadic cSVD (mean age ± SD 65 ± 9 years) and 22 matched controls (64 ± 7 years) participated in the ZOOM@SVDs study. Compared with controls, patients had increased pulsatility index (mean difference 0.09, p = 0.01) but similar blood flow velocity in basal ganglia perforating arteries and similar flow velocity and pulsatility index in centrum semiovale perforating arteries. The duration of the vascular response to brief visual stimulation in the occipital cortex was shorter in patients than in controls (mean difference -0.63 seconds, p = 0.02), whereas reactivity to hypercapnia was not significantly affected in the gray and total white matter. Among patients, reactivity to hypercapnia was lower in white matter hyperintensities compared with normal-appearing white matter (blood-oxygen-level dependent mean difference 0.35%, p = 0.001). Blood flow velocity and pulsatility index in basal ganglia perforating arteries and reactivity to brief visual stimulation correlated with disease burden.
Discussion:
We observed abnormalities in several aspects of small vessel function in patients with cSVD indicative of regionally increased arteriolar stiffness and decreased reactivity. Worse small vessel function also correlated with increased disease burden. These functional measures provide new mechanistic markers of sporadic cSVD.
