Analysis of correlation between the degree of cognitive impairment and the results of perfusion CT in patients with dementia

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between cognitive impairment according to the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and values of cerebral blood flow (CBF), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and mean transit time (MTT) obtained in perfusion CT (pCT). Material and Methods: Sixty-four patients with dementia (36 with Alzheimer’s disease, 15 with vascular dementia, and 13 with mixed dementia), aged 45–92 years (mean: 69.9 years) with different degrees of cognitive impairment (mean MMSE score: 17.0) were involved in the study. All subjects underwent pCT at the level of the basal ganglia (50 scans, 1 scan/s, 40 ml contrast medium at 4 ml/s, delay: 7 s). CBF, CBV, and MTT values from 31 regions of interest (ROIs) in the gray and white matter of the frontal and temporal lobes, lentiform nuclei, and internal capsules were correlated with the MMSE scores.
Results: Statistical analysis of CBF and MMSE revealed significant correlations in 22/31 ROIs including the gray and white matter of the frontal and temporal lobes, both internal capsules, right and left hemispheres, and total gray and white matter. Analysis of CBV and MMSE showed significant correlations in 21/31 ROIs in the gray and white matter of the frontal and temporal lobes, both internal capsules, left lentiform nucleus, right and left hemispheres, as well as total gray matter. There were no significant correlations between MTT and MMSE. Conclusions: CBF and CBV calculated with pCT correlate with cognitive impairment in patients with dementia and thus may play a role in monitoring disease progression or therapeutic response.

Keywords: Aged, 80 and over, Brain - physiology, Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology, Cognition Disorders - radiography, Dementia - radiography, Neuropsychological Tests, Regional Blood Flow, Statistics as Topic, Tomography, X-Ray Computed