Correlation study between cerebral microbleeds and white matter lesions in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease

Abstract

Objective To explore distribution characteristics and risk factors of cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), and the correlation between CMBs and white matter lesions (WML) in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease(ICVD). Methods 180 patients with ICVD in neurology department of Hebei General Hospital from February 2015 to January 2017 were recruited.Those patients were underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI). Recorded the baseline data and risk factors of high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and high homocysteine were recorded.Patients with CMBs were counted and graded to understand the characteristics of CMBs distribution. Logisitic regression analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors.ICVD patients were divided into CMBs group and non CMBs group. CMBs group was further divided into 4 groups according to the severity, which was divided into level 1-3. The correlation between CMBs influencing factors and classification was further studied.Then patients with ICVD were divided into WML group and non WML group. WML group scored each region with age-related white matter changes rating scale(ARWMCrs). The correlation between WML and CMBs classification was further studied. Results (1) The overall prevalence of CMBs in patients with ICVD was 61.7%(111/180). The most common location of CMBs in patients with ICVD was the cortical and subcortical regions (80/111, 72.1%), followed by the basal ganglia and thalamus regions (61/111, 55.0%), and the infratentorial regions(38/111, 34.2%). The difference between them were significant (χ2=32.061, P= 0.000). In cortical and subcortical regions of CMBs, temporal lobe was the most common(61.3%). (2) Age(B=0.046, Or=1.047, 95%CI=1.017~1.077, P=0.002) and the high homocysteine(B=1.458, Or=4.299, 95%CI=2.114~8.744, P<0.001)were the risk factors for CMBs.(3) Four classification of CMBs was positively correlated with and WML total score (r=0.393, P=0.393). Conclusion The temporal lobe was the most common region for CMBs in patients with ICVD.Age and high homocysteine were risk factors for CMBs.With the increase of WML total score, severity of CMBs was also increased. Key words: Ischemic cerebrovascular disease; Cerebral microbleeds; Risk factors; White matter lesions; Correlation