Abstract
Introduction: Development of novel diagnostic tools is a top research priority in vascular dementia. A major obstacle is the lack of a simple, non-invasive method to visualize cerebral arteriolar walls in vivo. Retinal arterioles offer a window into the cerebral circulation. Methods: Intensity-based retinal arteriolar visualization in optical coherence tomography (I-bRAVO) was applied to evaluate mean wall thickness (MWT) and wall-to-lumen ratio (WLR) in 250 subjects with sporadic and genetic cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), non-vascular neurodegenerative diseases (NVND), and healthy controls (HC) in association with imaging and cognitive markers. Results: MWT and WLR were higher in CSVD, associated with severity of vascular white matter lesions, and correlated with magnetic resonance imaging-based intracranial arteriolosclerosis score. WLR correlated with gray and white matter volume and differentiated asymptomatic sporadic CSVD from HC (area under the curve = 0.82). Discussion: I-bRAVO is a rapid, non-invasive tool. MWT and WLR were associated with imaging markers of CSVD and could contribute to early identification of sporadic CSVD.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e12338 |
Journal | Alzheimer's and Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment and Disease Monitoring |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2022 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy
- cerebral small vessel disease
- retinal vessels
- vascular dementia
- white matter disease