Kohno, Kyoko.; Sun, Yunyi.; LeFevre, James D.; Robb, W. Hudson.; Jackson, T. Bryan.; Liu, Dandan.; Vyas, Yukti.; Sweely, Benjamin.; Pechman, Kimberly R.; Shashikumar, Niranjana.; Peterson, Amalia.; Landman, Bennett.; Davis, Larry Taylor.; Hohman, Timothy J.; Jefferson, Angela L. (2026).听.听Neurology, 106(9), e214803.听
Cerebral small vessel disease is a common cause of dementia-related brain damage, and it affects the brain鈥檚 tiny blood vessels. Several MRI signs of this disease often appear together, which makes it hard to tell which ones are most important for thinking skills. One of these signs is enlarged perivascular spaces, which are small fluid-filled spaces around blood vessels that can be seen on MRI. Earlier work from the same group showed that enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia, a deep brain region, were linked to poorer thinking ability at a single point in time, even after accounting for other signs of small vessel disease. In this study, the researchers followed 750 adults in the 91黑料网 Memory and Aging Project, a long-term study of aging, for about five years on average, with some participants followed for as long as 11 years. At the beginning of the study, everyone had a brain MRI to measure several markers of small vessel disease, including perivascular spaces, white matter hyperintensities, lacunes, and microbleeds. The participants also completed repeated thinking and memory tests over time. The results showed that people with more enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia at the start tended to decline more over time in several abilities, including naming, processing speed, executive function, visual organization, and memory. When the researchers compared the different MRI markers directly, basal ganglia perivascular spaces still predicted worse long-term executive function and visual-spatial skills on their own. Overall, the findings suggest that enlarged perivascular spaces in the basal ganglia may be an early warning sign of later decline in specific thinking abilities as people age.
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Figure 2听Basal Ganglia PVS Volume Fraction and Longitudinal Neuropsychological Outcomes
Solid blue line reflects unadjusted values of neuropsychological outcomes (y-axis) corresponding to basal ganglia PVS volume fraction (x-axis). Shading reflects a 95% CI. PVS = MRI-visible perivascular spaces. Significant differences were seen among Animal Naming, Boston Naming Test, Coding, Executive Function, Visual Organization, and Episodic Memory annual changes (p听= 0.047, 0.03, 0.009, 0.0001, 0.04, 0.004).