[Review] Detection, risk factors, and functional consequences of cerebral microinfarcts

Cerebral microinfarcts are small lesions that are presumed to be ischaemic. Despite the small size of these lesions, affected individuals can have hundreds to thousands of cerebral microinfarcts, which cause measurable disruption to structural brain connections, and are associated with dementia that is independent of Alzheimer's disease pathology or larger infarcts (ie, lacunar infarcts, and large cortical and non-lacunar subcortical infarcts). Substantial progress has been made with regard to understanding risk factors and functional consequences of cerebral microinfarcts, partly driven by new in-vivo detection methods and the development of animal models that closely mimic multiple aspects of cerebral microinfarcts in human beings.

Source: Lancet Neurology - July 14, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Susanne J van Veluw, Andy Y Shih, Eric E Smith, Christopher Chen, Julie A Schneider, Joanna M Wardlaw, Steven M Greenberg, Geert Jan Biessels Tags: Review Source Type: research