Presence and severity of carotid siphon calcification on computed tomography images in mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

Purpose Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition between normal ageing and dementia [Petersen et al. 2008]. Recently, the term vascular cognitive impairment has been proposed, which reflects an awareness of the vascular burden on cognition. The vascular risk factors (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking and obesity) are important in the development of dementia [Tang et al. 2012], including significant synergistic effect on primary neurodegenerative type [Gorelick et al.... read more Methods and Materials The study was carried out at the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health sciences, Clinics of Kaunas (Kaunas,Lithuania) during a period of one year in 2011 and 2012. The patients were recruited into the study, who were coming to the Out-patient Department of Neurology for the consultation of a doctor neurologist and psychiatrist with the complaints of memory decline or, rarely, experiencing other cognitive difficulties. A total of 75 patients, who met the criteria for MCI and were willing... read more Results The mean age of patients was 67 ± 9 years, 17 (23%) were men. The mean MMSE scores were 25.3±2.6 points, and of ADAS-Cog – 16.9 ± 6.0 points. The mean SICAc scores were 3.9 ± 2.3 points: in the group A – 3.6 ± 2.5 points (n=38); B – 4.1 ± 2.1 points (n=37); C – 3.6 ± 2.4 points (n=38); and D – 4.1 ± 2.1 points (n=37), respectively. A strong positive correlation between the age and SICAc scale points (Pearson r=0.46, 95%CI 0.26 - 0.62, p<0.001) was found. However,... read more