Exploring Age-Related Morphological Changes in Cerebral Arteries: A 7T TOF MRA Study
Published in The Organization for Human Brain Mapping Annual Meeting, 2024
The observed age-related increase in large vessel diameter aligns with the gradual diameterincrease with age in central and peripheral (lower and upper limb) vessels (Mandalà & Cipolla, 2021)(Thijssen et al., 2016). Vessel diameter dilation may reflect a compensatory enlargement (Polak et al.,1996), loss of elastic fibers (Fritze et al., 2012), reduced arterial storage capacity and compromisedcapability to attenuate pulse propagation with aging (Zeki Al Hazzouri & Yaffe, 2014). Age-relatedchange in large vessels is accompanied by morphologic changes in small vessels (Fig. 1b and 1c),supporting a link between large vessel damage and distal small vessel alterations in the brain. Changein diameter in small vessels is also accompanied by change in tortuosity. Thechallenge with the small vessels is that their conspicuity is conflated by lower blood flow velocity. Age-related decrease in tortuosity may be a reflection of lower velocity in the small tortuous vessels.
Recommended citation: Shi, Z., Li, J., Huang, Y., Schweitzer, N., Iordanova, B., Ibrahim, T. S., Yang, S., Stetten, G. D., Aizenstein, H. J., Wu, M. (2024, June 24-25). Exploring Age-Related Morphological Changes in Cerebral Arteries: A 7T TOF MRA Study [Poster Abstract]. The Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2024 Annual Meeting, virtual.
Download Paper