title: Perivascular spaces on 7 Tesla brain MRI are related to markers of small vessel disease but not to age or cardiovascular risk factors.
abstract: Cerebral perivascular spaces (PVS) are small physiological structures around blood vessels in the brain. MRI visible PVS are associated with ageing and cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). 7 Tesla (7T) MRI improves PVS detection. We investigated the association of age, vascular risk factors, and imaging markers of SVD with PVS counts on 7 T MRI, in 50 persons aged ≥ 40. The average PVS count ± SD in the right hemisphere was 17 ± 6 in the basal ganglia and 71 ± 28 in the semioval centre. We observed no relation between age or vascular risk factors and PVS counts. The presence of microbleeds was related to more PVS in the basal ganglia (standardized beta 0.32; p = 0.04) and semioval centre (standardized beta 0.39; p = 0.01), and white matter hyperintensity volume to more PVS in the basal ganglia (standardized beta 0.41; p = 0.02). We conclude that PVS counts on 7T MRI are high and are related SVD markers, but not to age and vascular risk factors. This latter finding may indicate that due to the high sensitivity of 7T MRI, the correlation of PVS counts with age or vascular risk factors may be attenuated by the detection of "normal", non-pathological PVS.
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands wbouvy@umcutrecht.nl.
authors.forename: Willem H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Bouvy
authors.affiliation: Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Jaco J M
authors.initials: JJM
authors.lastname: Zwanenburg
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rik
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Reinink
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Laura E M
authors.initials: LEM
authors.lastname: Wisse
authors.affiliation: Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Luijten
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L Jaap
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Kappelle
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mirjam I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Geerlings
authors.affiliation: Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Geert Jan
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Biessels
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology; D059345:Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Cerebrovascular disease; MRI; aging; brain imaging; microcirculation; physiology