Associations between cortical microinfarcts, hippocampal atrophy, and cerebral small vessel disease

Brain cortical microinfarcts (CMI) are negatively correlated with cognitive function in both normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). High‐field structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has facilitated in vivo detection of CMIs but their significance and underlying pathological mechanism remain uncertain. Here we assessed correlations between CMIs and medial temporal lobe (MTL) cortical thickness, white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume, and relative periventricular white matter cerebral blood flow (PVWM CBF) in healthy individuals. PVWM CBF is thought to provide a measure of cerebral small vessel function.