Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease-advances since 2013.

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is common during ageing and can present as stroke, cognitive decline, neurobehavioural symptoms, or functional impairment. SVD frequently coexists with neurodegenerative disease, and can exacerbate cognitive and other symptoms and affect activities of daily living. Standards for Reporting Vascular Changes on Neuroimaging 1 (STRIVE-1) categorised and standardised the diverse features of SVD that are visible on structural MRI.

Determining the OPTIMAL DTI analysis method for application in cerebral small vessel disease.

Background: DTI is sensitive to white matter (WM) microstructural damage and has been suggested as a surrogate marker for phase 2 clinical trials in cerebral small vessel disease (SVD). The study's objective is to establish the best way to analyse the diffusion-weighted imaging data in SVD for this purpose. The ideal method would be sensitive to change and predict dementia conversion, but also straightforward to implement and ideally automated.

Proceedings from the Albert Charitable Trust Inaugural Workshop on white matter and cognition in aging.

This third in a series of vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) workshops, supported by "The Leo and Anne Albert Charitable Trust," was held from February 8 to 12 at the Omni Resort in Carlsbad, CA. This workshop followed the information gathered from the earlier two workshops suggesting that we focus more specifically on brain white matter in age-related cognitive impairment. The Scientific Program Committee (Frank Barone, Shawn Whitehead, Eric Smith, and Rod Corriveau) assembled translational, clinical, and basic scientists with unique expertise in acute and chronic white matter injury at the intersection of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative etiologies.

Correction: The effect of NOTCH3 pathogenic variant position on CADASIL disease severity: NOTCH3 EGFr 1-6 pathogenic variant are associated with a more severe phenotype and lower survival compared with EGFr 7-34 pathogenic variant.

This Article was originally published under Nature Research's License to Publish, but has now been made available under a [CC BY 4.0] license. The PDF and HTML versions of the Article have been modified accordingly.

The effect of NOTCH3 pathogenic variant position on CADASIL disease severity: NOTCH3 EGFr 1-6 pathogenic variant are associated with a more severe phenotype and lower survival compared with EGFr 7-34 pathogenic variant.

Purpose: CADASIL is a small-vessel disease caused by a cysteine-altering pathogenic variant in one of the 34 epidermal growth factor-like repeat (EGFr) domains of the NOTCH3 protein. We recently found that pathogenic variant in EGFr domains 7-34 have an unexpectedly high frequency in the general population (1:300). We hypothesized that EGFr 7-34 pathogenic variant more frequently cause a much milder phenotype, thereby explaining an important part of CADASIL disease variability.

Genetic Study of White Matter Integrity in UK Biobank (N=8448) and the Overlap With Stroke, Depression, and Dementia.

Background And Purpose: Structural integrity of the white matter is a marker of cerebral small vessel disease, which is the major cause of vascular dementia and a quarter of all strokes. Genetic studies provide a way to obtain novel insights in the disease mechanism underlying cerebral small vessel disease. The aim was to identify common variants associated with microstructural integrity of the white matter and to elucidate the relationships of white matter structural integrity with stroke, major depressive disorder, and Alzheimer disease.

Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) as a model of small vessel disease: update on clinical, diagnostic, and management aspects.

Cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) is the most common and best known monogenic small vessel disease. Here, we review the clinical, neuroimaging, neuropathological, genetic, and therapeutic aspects based on the most relevant articles published between 1994 and 2016 and on the personal experience of the authors, all directly involved in CADASIL research and care. We conclude with some suggestions that may help in the clinical practice and management of these patients.

Consensus statement for diagnosis of subcortical small vessel disease.

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is the diagnostic term used to describe a heterogeneous group of sporadic and hereditary diseases of the large and small blood vessels. Subcortical small vessel disease (SVD) leads to lacunar infarcts and progressive damage to the white matter. Patients with progressive damage to the white matter, referred to as Binswanger's disease (BD), constitute a spectrum from pure vascular disease to a mixture with neurodegenerative changes.

APOE ɛ2 is associated with white matter hyperintensity volume in CADASIL.

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) increases the risk for Alzheimer’s disease (ɛ4 allele) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (ɛ2 and ɛ4), but its role in small vessel disease (SVD) is debated. Here we studied the effects of APOE on white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) in CADASIL (cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy), a nonamyloidogenic angiopathy and inherited early-onset form of pure SVD. Four hundred and eighty-eight subjects were recruited through a multicenter consortium.

Genome-wide genotyping demonstrates a polygenic risk score associated with white matter hyperintensity volume in CADASIL.

Background And Purpose: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) on MRI are a quantitative marker for sporadic cerebral small vessel disease and are highly heritable. To date, large-scale genetic studies have identified only a single locus influencing WMH burden. This might in part relate to biological heterogeneity of sporadic WMH.