Correlation between Leukoaraiosis and natural brain tissue velocity: A pilot study using Ultrasound and MRI

摘要

Leukoaraiosis (LA) refers to lesions and rarefaction of the cerebral White Matter (WM) and is frequently seen in aged individuals. Although the mechanism of LA remains unknown, a decrease in cerebral perfusion is suspected to be linked to LA. LA can be seen in individuals without any clinical abnormality, however new findings suggest that LA may be clinically relevant [1,2]. Patients with LA have a decreased prognosis in term of death, stroke and myocardial infarction occurrences. The aim of our work was to study the relationship between LA and the natural brain tissue velocity due to pulsed cerebral perfusion. Brain velocities were measured with an analog of the Tissue Pulsatility Imaging (TPI) method described by Kucewicz [3,4], which has been already used in our group for depressed patients [5].