AUTHOR=Reaume Noaah , Reid Meaghan , Tadros George S. , Chacinski Dorothy , Denroche Britney , Aftab Arooj , Wu Pauline , Gupta Sah Rani , Wang Meng , Smith Eric E. , Frayne Richard , Coutts Shelagh B. , Sajobi Tolulope , Longman Stewart , Ganesh Aravind , Barber Philip A. 

TITLE=The relationship of small vessel disease burden on cerebral and regional brain atrophy rates and cognitive performance over one year of follow-up after transient ischemic attack

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1277765

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2023.1277765

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=Background: Stroke, even when minor, increases the risk of dementia. We aimed to determine whether patients with transient ischaemic attack (TIA) exhibit higher rates of cerebral and regional atrophy 1-year after first stroke symptoms and evaluate the relationship with small vessel disease and cognitive performance.Methods: TIA patients and controls without cognitive symptoms underwent high-resolution T1weighted MRI and cognitive testing at baseline and 1-year. Percent brain volume change (PBVC) was measured, and the location of regional atrophy and small vessel disease (CSVD) burden was evaluated. Neuropsychological testing assessed memory, processing speed, and executive function.Results: A total of 76 TIA patients and 53 controls of mean age 67 (SD=8) and 68 years (SD=8) were recruited. TIA patients demonstrated greater improvement of visual memory and executive function at 1-year. TIA patients had greater median PBVC/year compared to controls (-0.79% [(-1.22)-(-0.38)] vs. -0.41% [(-0.62)-0.19]; p<0.001), and higher rates of volume loss (ml/year) in subcortical grey (-0.53   [