The relationship of small vessel disease burden on cerebral and regional brain atrophy rates and cognitive performance over one year of follow-up after transient ischemic attack.

Background: Stroke, even when minor, increases the risk of dementia. We aimed to determine whether patients with transient ischaemic attack (TIA) exhibit higher rates of cerebral and regional atrophy 1-year after first stroke symptoms and evaluate the relationship with small vessel disease and cognitive performance.

Methods: TIA patients and controls without cognitive symptoms underwent high-resolution T1-weighted MRI and cognitive testing at baseline and 1-year.