Photo Credit: Vagengeym_Elena
The following is a summary of “Microenhancement as a Biomarker for Cerebral Microbleed in Inflammatory Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: Insights From 3D T1 Black-Blood MR Imaging,” published in the January 2025 issue of Neurology by Shang et al.
Cerebral microbleeds (cMBs) are common in conditions like cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). Blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage plays a critical role in their development.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to investigate cerebral microenhancement (cME) as a potential biomarker for predicting cMB formation in inflammatory variants of CAA.
They reviewed biopsy-confirmed cases of CAA-related inflammation (CAA-ri) and amyloid-beta–related angiitis (ABRA) from the UT Southwestern Medical Center’s BB-MRI registry (2014–2022). People underwent 3D T1 BB-MRI and susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), and the presence and progression of cMEs and cMBs were assessed.
The results showed that frequent cMEs on 3D T1 BB-MRI scans preceded cMB formation, particularly in people with the ApoE ɛ4/4 genotype who experienced a refractory clinical course. Additionally, people with stable conditions had fewer cMEs and cMBs.
They concluded that cerebral microenhancement could be a potential biomarker for predicting cMBs formation in inflammatory CAA.
Source: neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.0000000000210258
