VASCULAR RISK FACTORS FOR CEREBRAL SMALL VESSEL DISEASE

Abstract

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) refers to the syndrome of clinical, cognitive, imaging and pathological manifestations induced by lesions of the small cerebral perforating arteries and arterioles (diameter, 40-200 µm), capillaries, and venules [2]. It is customary to refer to the clinical and imaging findings induced by lesions of the small perforating arteries and arterioles and the resulting brain damage in the cerebral white and deep grey matter [1]. These perforating vessels are essential to maintain optimum functioning of the brain’s most metabolically active nuclei and complex white matter networks [3]. The imaging features of ischemic SVD are lacunes, white matter hyperintensity (WMH), cerebral microbleeds (CMB), enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) and brain atrophy (BA) [1].