Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jun;36(6):851-857.
doi: 10.1002/gps.5485. Epub 2020 Dec 26.

Association of cerebral microbleeds with cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer-biomarkers and clinical symptoms in early dementia with Lewy bodies

Aline Mendes  1 , Vincent Noblet  2   3 , Mary Mondino  2   3 , Paulo Loureiro de Sousa  2   3 , Sumayya Manji  2   3 , Anne Archenault  2   3 , Michel Casanovas  2   3 , Olivier Bousiges  4   5   6 , Nathalie Philippi  2   3   7 , Seyyid Baloglu  2   3   5 , Lucie Rauch  7 , Benjamin Cretin  2   3   7 , Catherine Demuynck  7 , Catherine Martin-Hunyadi  7 , Frederic Blanc  2   3   7
Affiliations

Association of cerebral microbleeds with cerebrospinal fluid Alzheimer-biomarkers and clinical symptoms in early dementia with Lewy bodies

Aline Mendes et al. Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, localization and associations of cerebral microbleeds (CMB) in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) with its core clinical symptoms and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We hypothesize DLB patients with CMB have increased amyloid burden compared to those without CMB, which could also translate into clinical differences.

Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis from the AlphaLewyMA study (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01876459). Patients underwent a standardized protocol of brain MRI including 3D T1, 3D FLAIR and T2* sequences, and CSF analysis of AD biomarkers. CMB and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) were visually assessed in prodromal and mild demented (DLB, N = 91) and AD (AD, N = 67) patients.

Results: CMB prevalence did not differ among DLB and AD (24.2% vs. 37.3%; p = 0.081). CMB were mainly distributed in lobar topographies in both DLB (74%) and AD (89%). CMB in DLB was not associated with global cognitive performance, executive functioning, speed of information processing, or AD CSF biomarkers. Similarly, there was no difference regarding specific clinical symptoms: fluctuations, psychotic phenomena, sleep behavior disorder and Parkinsonism between DLB patients with and without CMB. AD patients with CMB had increased burden of WMH compared to those without (2.1 ± 0.86 vs. 1.4 ± 0.89; p = 0.005), according to Fazekas scale, whereas no significant difference was observed in DLB patients (1.68 ± 0.95 vs. 1.42 ± 0.91; p = 0.25).

Conclusion: CMB were equally prevalent with similar topographic distribution in both DLB and AD patients. CMB was not associated with CSF AD biomarkers or core clinical symptoms in DLB.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; CSF biomarkers; Lewy-bodies dementia; cerebral amyloid angiopathy; cerebral microbleeds.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Pantoni L . Cerebral small vessel disease: from pathogenesis and clinical characteristics to therapeutic challenges. Lancet Neurol. 2010;9:689-701.
    1. Greenberg SM , Vernooij MW , Cordonnier C , et al. Cerebral microbleeds: a guide to detection and interpretation Microbleed Study Group. Lancet Neurol. 2009;8:165-174.
    1. Altmann-Schneider I , Trompet S , de Craen AJM , et al. Cerebral microbleeds are predictive of mortality in the elderly. Stroke. 2011;42:638-644.
    1. Sepehry AA , Lang D , Hsiung G-Y , Rauscher A . Prevalence of brain microbleeds in Alzheimer disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis on the influence of neuroimaging techniques. Am J Neuroradiol. 2016;37:215-222.
    1. Vinters HV . Cerebral amyloid angiopathy. A critical review. Stroke. 1987;18:311-324.

Associated data