Tiny silent acute infarcts may be a cause of leukoaraiosis, a finding that points toward a potentially treatable form of dementia, investigators reported online ahead of print October 4 in Annals of Neurology. The study involved five patients with leukoaraiosis who underwent detailed MRI scanning of their brains every week for 16 consecutive weeks. The MRI scans revealed new tiny spots arising de novo in the cerebral white matter. The lesions were “clinically silent and had the signature features of acute ischemic stroke, according to the researchers. “With time, the characteristics of these lesions approached those of pre-existing leukoaraiosis,” the study authors stated.
—Kimberly D. Williams