Mild Cognitive Impairment Following Stroke In Acute Phase: A MRS Study

Objective To investigate proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy(1HMRS) as a biomarker to identify mild cognitive impairment (MCI) following stroke in the acute phase.Methods A total of 72 stroke patients were recruited in the acute stage of stroke, including 36 patients with MCI, and other 36 stroke patients without MCI. All stroke patients underwent brain MRI/MRS examination on a 3.0 T scanner and take a neuropsychological test in the acute stage of stroke. 1HMRS was performed to obtain hippocampal metabolism intensities and brain infarct was assessed on MRI. Group difference of metabolite ratios was analyzed using a T-test. Spearman rank correlation was used to study the correlation between hippocampal metabolite ratios and Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)scores.Results The hippocampal n-acetylaspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr) ratio was found to be lower in stroke patients with MCI compared with stroke patients without MCI (P<0.05). Furthermore, a correlation was found between hippocampal NAA/Cr ratios and MoCA scores in stroke patients with MCI(P<0.05). However, we found no differences of metabolite ratios between hippocampus ipsilateral to infarction and the contralateral side in stroke patients with MCI(P>0.05).Conclusion 1HMRS could be to identify MCI following stroke in the acute phase by detecting metabolic abnormality in hippocampus.