关于沉默性中风或死亡脑细胞小斑点的新研究发现大约有1/4的老年人记忆丧失。这项研究发表在2012年1月3日印刷发行的美国神经学会医学杂志?《神经病学》上。
来自纽约哥伦比亚大学医学中心Taub 阿尔茨海默氏症与老化脑部研究所（Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center）的该研究的作者Adam M. Brickman博士说："这项老年人记忆丧失研究的新内容是同时考察沉默性中风和海马萎缩"。
在此研究中，一组年龄65岁以上、无痴呆的老人，共658人，进行了大脑核磁共振扫描。参与者还接受了相关测试，这些测试测量他们的记忆，语言，视觉感知和信息处理速度。其中共有174人有沉默性中风。
研究发现，与无沉默性中风的人相比，沉默性中风的人在记忆测试中得分更糟糕。人是否有一个小海马是真正的，这里的海马是大脑的记忆中心。
"如果如阿尔茨海默氏病这种情况主要是由记忆问题所确定，我们的结果可能导致进一步深入了解症状引发原因和新预防干预的开发。在我们的研究中，既然沉默性中风和海马体积分别与记忆丧失相关，我们的研究结果也支持预防中风作为避免记忆问题的一种手段"，Brickman说。
该研究由NIH资助。（生物谷bioon.com）
doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e31823e
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Memory after silent stroke: Hippocampus and infarcts both matter
S. Blum, J.A. Luchsinger, J.J. Manly, N. Schupf, Y. Stern, T.R. Brown, C. DeCarli, S.A. Small, R. Mayeux, and A.M. Brickman
Abstract Objective: Memory decline commonly occurs among elderly individuals. This observation is often attributed to early neurodegenerative changes in the hippocampus and related brain regions. However, the contribution of vascular lesions, such as brain infarcts, to hippocampal integrity and age-associated memory decline remains unclear. Methods: We studied 658 elderly participants without dementia from a prospective, community-based study on aging and dementia who received high-resolution structural MRI. Cortical and subcortical infarcts were identified, and hippocampal and relative brain volumes were calculated following standard protocols. Summary scores reflecting performance on tasks of memory, language, processing speed, and visuospatial function were derived from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. We used multiple regression analyses to relate cortical and subcortical infarcts, hippocampal and relative brain volume, to measures of cognitive performance in domains of memory, language, processing speed, and visuospatial ability. Results: Presence of brain infarcts was associated with a smaller hippocampus. Smaller hippocampus volume was associated with poorer memory specifically. Brain infarcts were associated with poorer memory and cognitive performance in all other domains, which was independent of hippocampus volume. Conclusions: Both hippocampal volume and brain infarcts independently contribute to memory performance in elderly individuals without dementia. Given that age-associated neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer disease, are defined primarily by impairment in memory, these findings have clinical implications for prevention and for identification of pathogenic factors associated with disease symptomatology.
