Dilated Perivascular Spaces in the Basal Ganglia Are a Biomarker of Small-Vessel Disease in a Very Elderly Population with Dementia

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Dilated perivascular spaces have been shown to be a specific biomarker of cerebral small-vessel disease in young patients with dementia. Our aim was to examine the discriminative power of dilated cerebral perivascular spaces as biomarkers of small-vessel disease in a very elderly population of patients with dementia.

Perivascular Spaces in Old Age: Assessment, Distribution, and Correlation with White Matter Hyperintensities

“…A higher global PVS score was correlated with a greater burden of WMH in lobar regions and the basal ganglia, which supports the view that PVS, along with WMH, are markers for cerebral small-vessel disease. 9,19,33 More interesting, we found a correlation between the PVS score in the basal ganglia and WMH load not only in the same region but also in lobar areas, while we did not find any correlation between the lobar PVS score and WMH load either in the lobar areas or in the basal ganglia. This is in line with the view that PVS, especially in the basal ganglia, are caused mainly by hypertensive arteriopathy, like WMH, while lobar PVS are mainly due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy or amyloid accumulation in the brain with normal aging.…”

White matter damage and glymphatic dysfunction in a model of vascular dementia in rats with no prior vascular pathologies

“…In dementia, while dilated perivascular spaces around arteries are not common in the cerebral cortex, in the WM and basal ganglia dilated perivascular spaces are present and thought to indicate an impaired solute and ISF clearance (Roher, et al, 2003,Weller, et al, 2015). Dilated perivascular spaces have been suggested as a valuable biomarker of small vessel disease among the elderly population (Hansen, et al, 2015) and may be due to glymphatic dysfunction (Wostyn, et al, 2016). In our study, we observed dilated perivascular spaces around arteries in the striatum that significantly correlate to WM damage.…”

Assessment of enlarged perivascular spaces and their relation to target organ damage and mild cognitive impairment in patients with hypertension

“…Two clinical studies showed that high grade BG EPVS were related to Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia compared to NCA or frontotemporal dementia [26,27]. Previous recent studies also showed a role for BG EPVS in dementia and MCI.…”