Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
-
Asymptomatic lacunar infarcts, white matter lesions, cerebral microbleeds, and enlarged perivascular spaces are MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). Higher blood pressure (BP) levels are associated with the presence of these markers separately, but the association with the total burden of cSVD on brain MRI, expressed by the simultaneous presence of multiple markers of cSVD (a compound score), has not been investigated. ⋯ We found a positive association of ambulatory BP levels with total burden of cSVD on brain MRI. With increasing BP levels, there is a piling up of damage in the brain. We suggest that further cSVD studies also consider viewing the total burden in addition to each of the MRI markers separately.
-
Transcranial direct current stimulation is emerging as a promising tool for the treatment of several neurological conditions, including cerebral ischemia. The therapeutic role of this noninvasive treatment is, however, limited to chronic phases of stroke. We thus ought to investigate whether different stimulation protocols could also be beneficial in the acute phase of experimental brain ischemia. ⋯ Our data indicate that transcranial direct current stimulation exerts a measurable neuroprotective effect in the acute phase of stroke. However, its timing and polarity should be carefully identified on the base of the pathophysiological context to avoid potential harmful side effects.
-
Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Susceptibility-weighted imaging is more reliable than T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo MRI for detecting microbleeds.
We investigated the sensitivity and reliability of MRI susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) compared with routine MRI T2*-weighted gradient-recalled echo (GRE) for cerebral microbleed (CMB) detection. ⋯ SWI confers greater reliability as well as greater sensitivity for CMB detection compared with GRE, and should be the preferred sequence for quantifying CMB counts.