Width of sulcus and thickness of gyrus in patients with cerebral atherosclerosis: a new tool for the prevention of vascular cognitive impairment

• Published in: Revista da Associacao Medica Brasileira (1992) Vol. 64; no. 8; pp. 684 - 691
• Main Authors: Ramalho, Luciana Santos, Silveira, Luciano Alves Matias da, Fonseca, Bárbara Cecílio, Félix, José Eduardo Reis, Morais, Lourimar José, Soares, Maria Helena, Ferraz, Mara Lúcia Fonseca, Teixeira, Vicente de Paula Antunes, Pereira, Sanívia Aparecida Lima
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil 01.08.2018
• Subjects: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis of Variance; Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - pathology; Cognitive Dysfunction - prevention & control; Dementia, Vascular - etiology; Dementia, Vascular - pathology; Dementia, Vascular - prevention & control; Female; Humans; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis - complications; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis - diagnostic imaging; Intracranial Arteriosclerosis - pathology; Male; Occipital Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Occipital Lobe - pathology; Reference Values; Reproducibility of Results; Severity of Illness Index; Statistics, Nonparametric; Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging; Temporal Lobe - pathology; Tomography, X-Ray Computed
• DOI: 10.1590/1806-9282.64.08.684
• ISSN: 0104-4230

Cerebral atherosclerosis is the main cause of lesions that contribute to vascular cognitive impairment and vascular dementia, followed by arteriosclerosis of small vessels and cerebral amyloid angiopathy. The purpose of this study was to compare the post-mortem radiological alterations of autopsied adults with the macroscopic alterations in the posterior region of these brains in order to establish a relationship between the two forms of analysis and to discuss the relevance of the prevention of vascular cognitive impairment in patients with encephalic atherosclerosis. Thirteen brains were analysed macroscopically to assess the degree of atherosclerosis of the basilar and the posterior cerebral arteries. The patients were autopsied in the Subject of General Pathology at General Hospital of Triângulo Mineiro Federal University in Uberaba, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The qualitative analysis of atherosclerosis was performed with classification into mild, moderate or severe. In the posterior region of the brains, width of sulcus and thickness of gyrus were measured by macroscopic analysis and by tomographic analysis. There was a decrease in calcarine sulcus width and an increase in medial temporal occipital gyrus thickness in patients with a higher degree of atherosclerosis, macroscopically and in tomography, respectively. Low oxygenation caused by atherosclerosis probably leads to an encephalic parenchyma inflammation that causes microglial cells hypertrophy provoking increase in the gyrus thickness and decrease in the sulcus width, as observed in the present study.