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Objective: The purpose of our study was to distinguish the changes in the microstructure of the cingulate cortex in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) induced by cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). Method: 80 patients were diagnosed with CSVD in this study, including 55 patients with MCI and 25 patients without MCI. Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) were performed in all patients. The anterior cingulate gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus and middle cingulate gyrus were selected as the regions of interest, and some parameters were recorded. Results: Compared with the non-MCI group, the MCI group mainly showed obviously higher mean diffusion (MD) and radial diffusion (RD) values (P = 0.022 and P = 0.029) but lower fractional anisotropy (FA), axial kurtosis (AK), mean kurtosis (MK) and radial kurtosis (RK) values (P = 0.047, P = 0.001, P < 0.01, and P = 0.001, respectively) in the right anterior cingulate gyrus. Meanwhile, in the right posterior cingulate gyrus, the MCI group also showed higher axial diffusion (AD) and MD (P = 0.027 and P = 0.030) and lower AK (P = 0.014). Additionally, negative correlations of AD, MD, and RD with MoCA scores and positive correlations of FA, AK, MK and RK with MoCA scores were observed in some regions of the cingulate gyrus. Conclusions: DKI is a good method to examine microstructural damage in the cingulate cortex, and some parameters of DKI may be used as imaging biomarkers to detect early MCI in patients with CSVD.

Rationale: Capsular warning syndrome (CWS) is a term to describe stereotyped lacunar transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Patients with CWS are at high risk of developing completed stroke. However, the exact pathophysiology of CWS is still unclear, and there is no conclusive clinical strategy for CWS patients. Patient symptoms: Two cases of middle-aged men with hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes mellitus presented with fluctuating right-sided weakness, numbness, and dysarthria. Diagnoses: These two patients were diagnosed with CWS. Interventions: Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) intravenous thrombolysis (0.9 mg/kg) was administered first and treated with aspirin (100 mg) and clopidogrel (75 mg) after 24 h of rt-PA for 21 days following by aspirin (100 mg) alone. Outcomes: Both cases got favorable clinical outcomes of somatic symptoms. In addition, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI or DW-MRI) showed that ischemic injury disappeared in case 1 while maintained within a reasonable range in case 2. Lessons: Early recognition and rt-PA/dual antiplatelet treatment may be an effective strategy for patients with CWS.

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