Topological relationships between perivascular spaces and progression of white matter hyperintensities: A pilot study in a sample of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 Link to paper in Frontiers in Neurology Authors Abbie Barnes, Lucia Ballerini, Maria del C. Valdés Hernández, Francesca M. Chappell, Susana Muñoz Maniega, Rozanna Meijboom, Ellen V. Backhouse, Michael S. Stringer, Roberto Duarte Coello, Rosalind Brown, Mark E. Bastin, Simon R. Cox, Ian J. Deary and Joanna M. Wardlaw Abstract Enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS) and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are features of cerebral small vessel disease which can be seen in brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Given the associations and proposed mechanistic link between PVS and WMH, they are hypothesized to also have topological proximity. However, this and the influence of their spatial proximity on WMH progression are unknown. We analyzed longitudinal MRI data from 29 out of 32 participants (mean age at baseline = 71.9 years) in a longitudinal study of cognitive aging, from three waves of data collection at 3-year intervals, alongside semi-automatic segmentation masks for PVS and WMH, to assess relationships. The majority of deep WMH clusters were found adjacent to or enclosing PVS (waves−1: 77%; 2: 76%; 3: 69%), especially in frontal, parietal, and temporal regions. Of the WMH clusters in the deep white matter that increased between waves, most increased around PVS (waves−1–2: 73%; 2–3: 72%). Formal statistical comparisons of severity of each of these two SVD markers yielded no associations between deep WMH progression and PVS proximity. These findings may suggest some deep WMH clusters may form and grow around PVS, possibly reflecting the consequences of impaired interstitial fluid drainage via PVS. The utility of these relationships as predictors of WMH progression remains unclear. Keywords Aging Brain Longitudinal MRI Perivascular spaces Small vessel disease Virchow-robin spaces White matter hyperintensities Citation Barnes A, Ballerini L, Valdés Hernández MdC, Chappell FM, Muñoz Maniega S, Meijboom R, Backhouse EV, Stringer MS, Duarte Coello R, Brown R, Bastin ME, Cox SR, Deary IJ and Wardlaw JM (2022) Topological relationships between perivascular spaces and progression of white matter hyperintensities: A pilot study in a sample of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936. Front. Neurol. 13:889884. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.889884 Related links Link to paper in Frontiers in Neurology Professor Joanna Wardlaw Dr Maria Valdés Hernández Dr Francesca Chappell Dr Susana Muñoz Maniega Dr Rozanna Meijboom Dr Michael Stringer Dr Rosalind Brown Dr Mark Bastin Brain & nervous system Small vessel disease (SVD) Lothian Birth Cohort (LBC 1936) What is a MR scan? Social media tags and titles Featured paper: Topological relationships between perivascular spaces and progression of white matter hyperintensities: A pilot study in a sample of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 @EdinUniBrainSci @EdinUniLBC @SVDResearch Publication date 29 Aug, 2022
