THE RELATION OF CEREBRAL MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SIGNAL HYPERINTENSITIES TO ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

To further elucidate the relation of cerebral magnetic resonance signa l hyperintensities to Alzheimer's disease (AD) we performed a case-con trol comparison between 30 consecutive patients with probable AD (age range 49-76, mean 65 years) and 60 asymptomatic volunteers matched for age, sex, and major cerebrovascular risk factors. We used a 1.5T magn et and determined the extent of morphologic abnormalities both by visu al grading and measurement. AD patients showed comparable grades of de ep/subcortical white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and a similar exten t of the total WMH area as controls (3.3 cm(2) +/- 8.8 vs. 2.0 cm(2) /- 4.6). They had significantly more often a 'halo' of periventricular hyperintensity (PVH) (p < 0.0005) and an increased mean PVH thickness (3.0 mm +/- 1.9 vs. 1.3 mm +/- 1.2; p < 0.001). This PVH thickness co rrelated significantly with measures of ventricular enlargement. While univariate logistic regression also suggested a significant associati on of PVH thickness with a diagnosis of AD this association was lost a gainst atrophy measures in a multivariate analysis. Our results confir m a significantly greater extent of PVH in AD patients than controls e ven when matched for cerebrovascular risk factors. However, this abnor mality was not independently related to the disease but rather appears to be an epiphenomenon of brain atrophy.