Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging correlates of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Canadian Stroke Network vascular cognitive impairment neuropsychology protocols.
BACKGROUND
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) refers to the entire spectrum of cognitive dysfunction attributable to vascular changes in the brain. The objective of this study is to evaluate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) correlates of performance on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke-Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) VCI neuropsychology protocols.


METHODS
Fifty ischemic stroke patients and 50 normal elderly persons completed the VCI protocols and MRI. Relationships between the four cognitive domains (executive/activation, language, visuospatial, and memory) and three protocol (60-, 30-, and 5-min) summary scores with MRI measures of volumes of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and global brain and hippocampal atrophy were assessed using linear regression.


RESULTS
All cognitive domain scores were associated with WMH volume and, with the exception of language domain, with global atrophy. Additional relationships were found between executive/activation and language domains with left hippocampal volume, visuospatial domain with right hippocampal volume, and memory domain with bilateral hippocampal volumes. All protocol summary scores showed comparable relationships with WMH and hippocampal volumes, with additional relationships found between the 60- and 30-min protocols with global brain volume.


CONCLUSIONS
Performance on the NINDS-CSN VCI protocols reflects underlying volumetric brain changes implicated in cognitive dysfunctions in VCI.
a Department of Medicine and Therapeutics , Lui Che Woo Institute of Innovative Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong , Shatin , Hong Kong SAR , China.
Adrian
A
Wong
Defeng
D
Wang
Sandra E
SE
Black
David L
DL
Nyenhuis
Lin
L
Shi
Winnie C W
WC
Chu
Yun-yun
YY
Xiong
Lisa
L
Au
Alexander
A
Lau
Anne Y Y
AY
Chan
Lawrence K S
LK
Wong
Vincent
V
Mok
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D020520:Brain Infarction / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.) / Q000592:standards*; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000379:methods; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014481:United States
Cognitive assessment; Magnetic resonance imaging; Neuropsychology; Stroke; Vascular cognitive impairment