Caudate nucleus volumes in stroke and vascular dementia.
We aimed to assess the volume of the nucleus caudatus as a neuroanatomical substrate of fronto-subcortical circuits, in stroke patients with/without dementia, and the relationship to potential determinants of neural circuit integrity such as white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and stroke volume. Stroke only (Stroke) (n=19) and stroke with Vascular Dementia (VaD) (n=16) and healthy control (n=20) subjects, matched on demographic variables, underwent extensive neuropsychiatric assessments and manual MRI-based volumetric measurements for intracranial area (ICA), stroke volume, and bilateral caudate volume. WMH on MRI were quantified using an automated algorithm. Multivariate analysis of covariance (controlling for age and ICA), revealed that across the three groups, caudate volumes were significantly different. There was a significant difference in bilateral caudate nucleus volume between subjects by diagnosis (Stroke, VaD, control). The control group was largest in overall mean volume of the diagnostic groups, followed by the Stroke group (86% of controls), and finally, the VaD group (72%). There was a partial correlation between total caudate volume and the total volume of deep WMH including periventricular regions and brainstem, controlling for ICA; and for total stroke volume. Stroke patients with VaD have smaller caudate nuclei compared to those without dementia and healthy controls, with the stroke-only patients being intermediate in their caudate volume status. There was preliminary evidence of negative correlation of caudate volume with volume of deep WMH and total stroke volume, suggesting cerebrovascular disease contributes to caudate atrophy,which, in turn may disrupt fronto-subcortical circuits.
Research Centre for the Neurosciences of Ageing, Academic Unit of Psychological Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Building 4, Level 2, The Canberra Hospital, P.O. Box 11, Woden Australian Capital Territory 2605, Australia. jeffrey.looi@anu.edu.au
Jeffrey Chee Leong
JC
Looi
Vanessa
V
Tatham
Rajeev
R
Kumar
Jerome J
JJ
Maller
Ellen
E
Millard
Wei
W
Wen
Xiaohua
X
Chen
Henry
H
Brodaty
Perminder
P
Sachdev
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002421:Caudate Nucleus / Q000473:pathology*; D015140:Dementia, Vascular / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020521:Stroke / Q000473:pathology*