Improved MR Imaging Detection of Cerebral Microbleeds More Accurately Identifies Persons with Vasculopathy

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Fig 1.
Axial MR images obtained with a conventional 2D T2*-weighted sequence (A) and a high-resolution 3D T2*-weighted sequence (B) in the same participant. More cerebral microbleeds (arrows) are visible on the high-resolution image compared with the conventional image.

Prevalence of vascular risk factors, APOE allele status, and markers of small-vessel disease according to microbleed status^a

Variables	No CMBs^b (n = 129)		CMBs on 3D But Not 2D^c (n = 29)		CMBs on 2D and 3D^d (n = 42)
Variables	% or mean ± SD	% or mean ± SD	OR (95% CI)^e	% or mean ± SD	OR (95% CI)^e
Age, years	78.8 ± 5.8	79.2 ± 6.3	1.01 (0.95–1.09)	80.6 ± 6.3	1.05 (0.99–1.11)
Men	43.4	51.7	1.40 (0.63–3.15)	50.0	1.27 (0.63–2.57)
Systolic blood pressure^f (mm Hg)	145.3 ± 19.6	150.8 ± 21.4	1.42 (0.91–2.22)	152.8 ± 21.2	1.43 (0.98–2.08)
Diastolic blood pressure^f (mm Hg)	75.6 ± 10.0	79.0 ± 10.5	1.48 (0.94–2.32)	76.5 ± 9.4	1.33 (0.88–2.00)
Hypertension (WHO grades 2 and 3)	22.6	42.9	1.48 (0.52–4.23)	38.5	2.44 (0.81–7.31)
Smoking (ever)	74.8	72.4	0.79 (0.31–2.06)	82.9	1.59 (0.61–4.11)
Serum total cholesterol^g (mmol/L)	5.60 ± 1.05	5.52 ± 1.07	0.92 (0.57–1.50)	5.56 ± 0.94	0.93 (0.60–1.43)
APOE ε4 carrier, versus ε3/ε3	22.9	34.6	1.74 (0.67–4.52)	42.1	2.72 (1.17–6.35)
Lacunar infarct on MRI	9.3	31.0	2.70 (0.82–8.94)	23.8	2.92 (1.03–8.30)
White matter lesions on MRI^h (mL)	7.3 (3.6–15.1)	9.3 (4.0–26.8)	1.35 (0.87–2.09)	9.9 (6.3–30.8)	1.52 (1.04–2.22)

Note:—WHO indicates World Health Organization.
↵a All values represent %, mean ± SD, or age- and sex-adjusted (when applicable) ORs with 95% CI.
↵b Participants without microbleeds on either 2D or 3D T2*GRE.
↵c Participants with ≥1 microbleed on 3D T2*GRE but without microbleeds on the 2D T2*GRE.
↵d Participants with ≥1 microbleed on both 2D T2*GRE and 3D T2*GRE sequences.
↵e Odds ratios compared with the odds of the “no CMBs” category.
↵f Additionally adjusted for the use of blood pressure–lowering medication.
↵g Additionally adjusted for the use of lipid-lowering drugs.
↵h Median with interquartile range and natural-log transformed values used in odds ratios.