INTRODUCTION Cerebral microinfarcts (CMI) are common lesions, carrying an important contribution to small-vessel-related cognitive impairment. CMIs were previously found to cause local microstructural damage and disruption of white matter integrity. This study examines CMIs influence on cortical thickness in remote brain areas. METHODS Six small silent diffuse weighted imaging (DWI) lesions corresponding to subacute CMI were identified among five patients who underwent baseline and follow-up MRI scans from the Tel-Aviv Acute Brain Stroke Cohort (TABASCO). Regions of interest (ROIs) corresponding to the site of the DWI lesions and of the non-lesioned contralateral hemisphere (control ROI) were co-registered. DTI tractography was additionally performed to reconstruct the white matter tracts containing the ROIs. The normalized cortical thickness was calculated for the DWI lesional tract as well as for the contralateral non-lesional tract, and the lesion-to-control cortical thickness ratio (CTR) was calculated. RESULTS Post-lesional scans, performed 25.1 ± 1.2 months after CMI detection, demonstrated reduced mean CTR within the ROI from 1.8 to 1.1 (p = 0.032). There was no difference between the CTR of the right hemisphere relative to those on the left hemisphere, or between the CTR change of the cortical and non-cortical CMI. DISCUSSION This study demonstrated the prolonged influence of CMI on cortical thickness in remote ROI. The total number of CMIs is difficult to determine, however it has been shown that detecting even a single CMI suggests the existence of hundreds to thousands lesions. Therefore, the cumulative impact of these widely distributed lesions on cerebral cortex may have a significant contribution to the development of vascular cognitive impairment.

中文翻译：

---

远程皮质厚度的脑微梗死破坏

引言 脑微梗死 (CMI) 是常见病变，对小血管相关认知障碍有重要贡献。先前发现 CMI 会导致局部微结构损伤和白质完整性破坏。这项研究检查了 CMI 对偏远大脑区域皮层厚度的影响。方法 在接受特拉维夫急性脑卒中队列 (TABASCO) 基线和随访 MRI 扫描的 5 名患者中，确定了 6 个与亚急性 CMI 相对应的小型无声弥散加权成像 (DWI) 病变。与 DWI 病变部位和非病变对侧半球（对照 ROI）对应的感兴趣区域 (ROI) 被共同注册。此外，还进行了 DTI 纤维束成像以重建包含 ROI 的白质束。计算 DWI 病变束和对侧非病变束的标准化皮质厚度，并计算病变与对照皮质厚度比 (CTR)。结果 CMI 检测后 25.1 ± 1.2 个月进行的病灶后扫描表明 ROI 内的平均 CTR 从 1.8 降低到 1.1 (p = 0.032)。右半球的 CTR 与左半球的 CTR 或皮质和非皮质 CMI 的 CTR 变化之间没有差异。讨论 本研究证明了 CMI 对远程 ROI 中皮质厚度的长期影响。CMI 的总数很难确定，但已表明即使检测到单个 CMI 也表明存在数百至数千个病变。所以，