Disturbed oscillatory brain dynamics in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia

Elisabeth Cw Van Straaten,Wiesje M Van Der Flier,Philip Scheltens,Cornelis J Stam,Frederik Barkhof,Ted Koene,Willem De Haan,Hanneke De Waal

doi:10.1186/1471-2202-13-85

Elisabeth Cw Van Straaten, Wiesje M Van Der Flier + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2202-13-85

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Journal: BMC neuroscience	Publication Date: Jul 24, 2012
Citations: 51	License type: CC BY 2.0

Affiliation: Amsterdam UMC Location VUmc

Abstract

BackgroundWhite matter hyperintensities (WMH) can lead to dementia but the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. We compared relative oscillatory power from electroencephalographic studies (EEGs) of 17 patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, based on extensive white matter hyperintensities (SIVD-WMH) with 17 controls to investigate physiological changes underlying this diagnosis.ResultsDifferences between the groups were large, with a decrease of relative power of fast activity in patients (alpha power 0.25 ± 0.12 versus 0.38 ± 0.13, p = 0.01; beta power 0.08 ± 0.04 versus 0.19 ± 0.07; p<0.001) and an increase in relative powers of slow activity in patients (theta power 0.32 ± 0.11 versus 0.14 ± 0.09; p<0.001 and delta power 0.31 ± 0.14 versus 0.23 ± 0.09; p<0.05). Lower relative beta power was related to worse cognitive performance in a linear regression analysis (standardized beta = 0.67, p<0.01).ConclusionsThis pattern of disturbance in oscillatory brain activity indicate loss of connections between neurons, providing a first step in the understanding of cognitive dysfunction in SIVD-WMH.

Highlights

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) can lead to dementia but the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear
White matter hyperintensities (WMH), especially when severe, can be associated with cognitive impairment and dementia [1]. Since they are very frequently seen on cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of subjects without cognitive impairment, one of the challenges is to understand when and how these lesions lead to dementia
Gawel et al [9] reported a reduction in alpha power and increase in theta and delta power as expressed as lower alpha/slow wave ratio, and this ratio had a correlation with mini mental state examination (MMSE)

Summary

Introduction

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) can lead to dementia but the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. We compared relative oscillatory power from electroencephalographic studies (EEGs) of 17 patients with subcortical ischemic vascular dementia, based on extensive white matter hyperintensities (SIVD-WMH) with 17 controls to investigate physiological changes underlying this diagnosis. White matter hyperintensities (WMH), especially when severe, can be associated with cognitive impairment and dementia (as a subgroup of subcortical ischemic vascular disease and dementia SIVD) [1] Since they are very frequently seen on cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of subjects without cognitive impairment, one of the challenges is to understand when and how these lesions lead to dementia. In most EEG studies on vascular dementia (VaD), subjects with subcortical dementia as well as dementia after cortical stroke were analysed together [5,6,7,8] In these studies, slowing of posterior dominant activity was the main finding. As far as we are aware, no study has focused on (quantitative) EEG analysis in SIVD-WMH only

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