Brain iron deposition is positively correlated with cognitive impairment in patients with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion: a MRI susceptibility mapping study

AIM: To investigate the relationship of brain iron deposition with cognitive impairment in patients with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CHP).MATERIALS AND METHODS: Brain iron deposition was detected using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), and cognitive function by neuropsychological tests including the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), and verbal fluency tests in a total of 40 participants, 23 with CHP and 17 age-and sex-matched healthy participants without CHP (controls).RESULTS: The neuropsychological tests revealed that cognitive impairment (p<0.05) and susceptibility values (p<0.05) of the bilateral hippocampus (HP) and substantia nigra (SN) in CHP patients were significantly higher than those of the controls. The susceptibility values of bilateral HP and left putamen correlated closely with the scores of neuropsychological tests in the CHP patients (p<0.05, r2>0.1). The susceptibility values in the left putamen and bilateral HP were significantly higher in CHP patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n=8) than those of CHP patients without MCI (n=15; p<0.05).CONCLUSIONS: The present findings indicated that brain iron deposition in specific areas may be responsible for the cognitive impairment in CHP patients, and that QSM is a useful tool to determine brain iron, predicting cognitive impairment in CHP patients.& COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Royal College of Radiologists.

Automated summary

The relationship between brain iron deposition and cognitive impairment in patients with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CHP) was investigated. The study used quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) to detect brain iron deposition and employed neuropsychological tests to assess cognitive function. The results showed that CHP patients had higher susceptibility values in the bilateral hippocampus and substantia nigra, as well as cognitive impairment. Furthermore, the susceptibility values in specific areas were closely correlated with the scores of neuropsychological tests.