title: Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging in cerebral small vessel disease.
abstract: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is frequent in the elderly, and accounts for a wide spectrum of clinical and radiological manifestations. This report summarizes the most important findings obtained using diffusion MRI (DWI) in SVD. With DWI and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, recent ischemic lesions can easily be detected after acute stroke in SVD, while even multiple simultaneous lesions may be observed. Microstructural changes are frequent in SVD, with increases in diffusivity and decreases in anisotropy being the most reliable findings observed, mainly in white matter. These tissue changes are associated with clinical severity and especially executive dysfunction. They can also precede the usual MRI markers of SVD, such as white matter hyperintensities, microbleeds and lacunes. Thus, DWI may reveal surrogate markers of SVD progression and offer a better understanding of their underlying mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, université de Paris Denis Didérot, DHU NeuroVasc Sorbonne Paris-Cité, GH Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; CEA, Neurospin, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France. Electronic address: aicha.lyoubi-idrissi@aphp.fr.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Lyoubi-Idrissi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, université de Paris Denis Didérot, DHU NeuroVasc Sorbonne Paris-Cité, GH Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; CEA, Neurospin, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Inserm UMR 1161, faculté de médecine, Villemin, 75010 Paris, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jouvent
authors.affiliation: CEA, Neurospin, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poupon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, université de Paris Denis Didérot, DHU NeuroVasc Sorbonne Paris-Cité, GH Saint-Louis-Lariboisière, Assistance publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France; CEA, Neurospin, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; Inserm UMR 1161, faculté de médecine, Villemin, 75010 Paris, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chabriat
mesh_terms: D059345:Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D020521:Stroke / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging
keywords: Diffusion tensor imaging; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Small vessel disease