Microbleeds in postmortem brains of patients with Alzheimer disease: a T2*-weighted gradient-echo 7.0 T magnetic resonance imaging study

Alzheimer Dis Assoc Disord. 2013 Apr-Jun;27(2):162-7. doi: 10.1097/WAD.0b013e318256ecd8.

Abstract

This study aims to determine the distribution and to quantify microbleeds (MBs) in postmortem brains of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) on T2*-weighted gradient-echo 7.0 T magnetic resonance imaging. Twenty-eight AD brains were compared with 5 controls. The AD brains were subdivided further: 18 without and 10 with additional severe cerebral amyloid angiopathy (AD-CAA). The distribution and the number of cortical focal signal intensity losses, representing MBs, were assessed on coronal sections at the frontal, the central, and the occipital level of a cerebral hemisphere. MBs prevailed in the central sections (P=0.005) of AD brains without CAA, whereas in AD-CAA brains, they were more frequent in all coronal sections (P≤0.002). They prevailed in the deep cortical layers of the AD brains and of the controls (P≤0.03). They were significantly increased in all cortical layers of the AD-CAA brains (P≤0.04), compared with the controls. MBs prevalence in brains of AD patients had a different topographic distribution according to the absence or presence of severe CAA.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Alzheimer Disease / complications
  • Alzheimer Disease / pathology*
  • Autopsy
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / complications
  • Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy / pathology
  • Cerebral Hemorrhage / pathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Male