My wife had an mri because we suspected she d had a tia. The report from the mri said she had chronic microvascular changes. No mention of ischemic in the report as told to us in the ER. My wife s presenting problem was that she lost the ability to remember names for many common items and locations for a period of about 30-45 minutes, then regained the ability completely. My wife is also hypertensive. How concerned should we be about the chronic microvascular changes, or is this a function of aging?
Hello ragnar1Chronic hypertensive conditions and transient ischemic attacks cause micro hemorrhages which are manifesting on MR imaging as microvascular changes. This results in development of multi infarct dementia. Multi infarct dementia is responsible for her symptomatology of short term memory loss, nominal difficulty, reduced ability to concentrate, inability to register and recall new memories. And multi infarct dementia is a reversible condition, once blood supply is regained to affected ares either by development of collaterals of blood vessels or by revascularization. But the condition shouldn't be ignored as it may lead to persistent dementia changes. Control of hypertension is must in management. Other what can be done is introduction of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplements, Multivitamin preparations and cognitive enhancers (like Semantic, Donepezil) in her Chat Doctor. Hope I cleared your doubt. Thanks take care.