Study of the magnetic resonance spectroscopy in patients with vascular cognitive impairment

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of brain metabolites in patients with vascular cognitive impairment(VCI) using magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS).Methods: Twenty-six patients with vascular cognitive impairment no dementia(VCIND group),20 patients with vascular dementia(VaD group) and 20 normal people(control group) were investigated.The levels of the N-acetyl aspartate(NAA),choline(Cho),creatine(Cr),and the metabolite ratios of NAA/Cr and Cho/Cr in left rear of the cingulate gyrus,left dorsal thalamus,left frontal white matter(FLWM) and left hippocampus in three groups were measured and compared.Results: Compared with the control group,the metabolite ratio of NAA/Cr in left rear of the cingulate gyrus,left frontal white matter and left hippocampus decreased in VCIND patients(P<0.05 to P<0.01),the level of NAA in left rear of the cingulate gyrus,left dorsal thalamus and left hippocampus decreased in VaD patients(P<0.05 to P<0.01),and the metabolite ratio of NAA/Cr in left rear of the cingulate gyrus,left frontal white matter and left hippocampus decreased in VaD group(P<0.01).The differences of the level of Cho and Cho/Cr in different areas between 3 groups were not statistically significant(P>0.05).Compared with the VCIND group,the metabolite ratio of NAA/Cr in left rear of the cingulate gyrus,the level of NAA and metabolite ratio of NAA/Cr in left hippocampus decreased in VaD group(P<0.05 to P<0.01).Conclusions: The metabolite differences in different brain regions exist in VCIND and VaD patients,especially for changes of the level of NAA and the ratio of NAA/Cr.