SWI diagnosis of cerebral microbleeding in patients with vascular cognitive impairment and the relationships

GAO Xiaorong; SHI Ning; GAO Yajun; GAO Hui; LI Haijun; ZHENG Xiaolong

Abstract：Objective To investigate the magnetic susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) diagnosis of cerebral microbleeding in patients with vascular cognitive impairment and the relationships between the microbleeding and impairment. Methods A total of 260 patients with vascular cognitive impairment admitted to our hospital between January 2016 and January 2017 were enrolled in this study. All the patients were examined by SWI. The imaging findings and distribution of cerebral microbleeding were explored. According to the occurrence of cerebral microbleeding, the patients were divided into the complication group and the non-complication group. Changes of cognitive function [Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA)] were compared between the two groups and between patients with different levels of cerebral microbleeding. The relationships between cerebral microbleeding and vascular cognitive impairment were analyzed. Results The SWI imaging findings of cerebral microbleeding showed that there were small round low signals in the brain parenchyma. The diameter of these signals ranged from 2 to 5 mm, and there was no continuity at multiple levels. These signals did not conform to the venous flow route. The scores of MoCA and total score were significantly lower in the complication group than in the non-complication group (P<0.05). Both were the highest in the mild group, followed by the moderate group and severe group (P<0.05). Spearman correlation analysis showed that vascular cognitive impairment was positively related to the amount and severity of cerebral microbleeding (P<0.05) but there was no correlation with gender, age, type of complications, number of lesions or distribution area of lesions (P>0.05). Conclusion There are typical imaging findings of cerebral microbleeding detected by SWI, and there is a significant correlation between vascularcognitive impairment and cerebral hemorrhage.