Arterial hypertension impact on cerebral blood flow in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Studies show the potential deterioration of brain vascularization and probable involvement of hypertension in Alzheimer disease (AD). OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate the potential impact of hypertension on cerebral vascular flows in a sample of Alzheimer's patients. METHODS: 19 patients with AD, including 10 with hypertension (aHT+) and 9 without hypertension (aHT-) were recruited. They underwent clinical evaluation and phase-contrast MRI protocol for flow assessment. Cerebral arterial flow distributions were evaluated using kurtosis and skewness indices at the intracranial and extracranial levels. RESULTS: No significant differences were found in the mean arterial flow, pulse flow and kurtosis between the levels in the AD aHT+ population. There was a significant difference in skewness between extra-and intracranial levels (p = 0.01). No significant differences were found in the mean arterial flow between the levels in the AD aHT-population. A significant difference was observed in the pulse flow (p = 0.03), kurtosis (p = 0.02) and skewness (p = 0.008) between the levels. At the extracranial level we did not find any significant differences in the mean arterial flow, pulse flow or skewness between aHT+ and aHT-. There was a significant difference in kurtosis at the extracranial level between the aHT+ and aHT-(p = 0.03). At the intracranial level, there were no significant differences in all parameters. CONCLUSION: Results showed a difference between cerebral vasculature in AD for aHT+ and aHT-groups. This is probably related to the loss of arterial compliance induced by the degradation of the vascular system.