“White-matter hyperintensity [WMH] volume…was strongly associated with decreased cognition” in Alzheimer’s patients who were amyloid beta positive (Aßpos-AD), according to a study published July 28, 2021, in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Antoine Garnier-Crussard and his team at Normandy University’s Blood and Brain Institute in Caen, France, investigated the relationship between WMH,  and cognitive decline because “[s]tudies assessing the relationship between WMH and cognition in AD are scarce, and findings are inconsistent, showing associations in some but not all studies.”

WMH, evident in MRI studies of the brain, is defined as a “hyperintense signal on T2-weighted and fulid-attenuated inversions recovery (T2-weighted FLAIR) images,” and are frequently found in older adults without cognitive impairments. They are associated with vascular risk factors like hypertension and diabetes, and with degraded cognitive performance of executive functions and processing speed, according to the authors.

After a thorough review of existing literature and interpretation of their study findings, the authors “found that (1) WMH were larger in Aβpos-AD patients, particularly in the [splenium of the corpus callosum] S-CC and posterior regions, while differences were more subtle in the frontal lobe and CC genu and (2) larger WMH were associated with worse cognitive performances in Aβpos-AD patients, especially for the S-CC, periventricular and posterior regions, and independently from cortical Aβ load, gray matter loss, or [vascular risk factors] VRF.”

Source:

Garnier-Crussard, A, Bougacha, S, Wirth, M, et al. White matter hyperintensity topography in Alzheimer’s disease and links to cognition. Alzheimer’s Dement. 2021; 1– 12. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12410 Accessed: August 16, 2021.