Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands | [b] Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands | [c] Department of Geriatrics, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands | [d] Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Susanne J. van Veluw, Department of Neurology G03.232, University Medical Center Utrecht, P.O. Box 85500, 3508 GA Utrecht, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 88 7558258; Fax: +31 30 2542100; E-mail: s.j.veluw-2@umcutrecht.nl.
Abstract: Cerebral microinfarcts (CMIs) are a common finding in neuropathological studies of aging and dementia. Recently, it has become possible to detect CMIs in vivo. We studied CMI occurrence in 29 patients with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 22 non-demented individuals on 7Tesla MRI. CMI occurrence in patients (55%) and controls (45%) was not significantly different. In patients, CMI number tended to be related to microbleed number (p = 0.07). This first in vivo study of CMIs in early AD does not confirm findings from autopsy studies. Further studies are needed to clarify the role of CMIs in AD.
