Assessment of cheese sign and its association with vascular risk factors: Data from PUMCH dementia cohort.

BACKGROUND: In the clinic, practitioners encounter many patients with an abnormal pattern of dense punctate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signal in the basal ganglia, a phenomenon known as "cheese sign". This sign is reported as common in cerebrovascular diseases, dementia, and old age. Recently, cheese sign has been speculated to consist of dense perivascular space (PVS). This study aimed to assess the lesion types of cheese sign and analyze the correlation between this sign and vascular disease risk factors. METHODS: A total of 812 patients from Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) dementia cohort were enrolled. We analyzed the relationship between cheese sign and vascular risk. For assessing cheese sign and defining its degree, the abnormal punctate signals were classified into basal ganglia hyperintensity (BGH), PVS, lacunae/infarctions and microbleeds, and counted separately. Each type of lesion was rated on a four-level scale, and then the sum was calculated; this total was defined as the cheese sign score. Fazekas and Age-Related White Matter Changes (ARWMC) scores were used to evaluate the paraventricular, deep, and subcortical gray/white matter hyperintensities. RESULTS: A total of 118 patients (14.5%) in this dementia cohort were found to have cheese sign. Age (odds ratio [OR]: 1.090, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.064-1.120, P <0.001), hypertension (OR: 1.828, 95% CI: 1.123-2.983, P = 0.014), and stroke (OR: 1.901, 95% CI: 1.092-3.259, P = 0.025) were risk factors for cheese sign. There was no significant relationship between diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and cheese sign. The main components of cheese sign were BGH, PVS, and lacunae/infarction. The proportion of PVS increased with cheese sign severity. CONCLUSIONS: The risk factors for cheese sign were hypertension, age, and stroke. Cheese sign consists of BGH, PVS, and lacunae/infarction.

A pilot study of multiple time points and multidomain assessment in cerebrospinal fluid tap test for patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to identify the appropriate evaluation time point and assessment forthe CSF tap test(TT) to predict the shunting responsiveness of patients with idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH). METHODS: Eighty-eight inpatients with clinically possible iNPH who underwent CSF TT at multiple time points (baseline, 8 hours, 24 hours, and 72 hours after CSF TT) at Peking Union Medical College Hospital were recruited. The multidomain assessment included the timed up and go test(TUG), 10-meter walking tests, and a brief executive function battery. Performance in multidomain assessment at the indicated time points were compared. The positive response rate and cumulative positive rate of multidomain assessment at multiple time points were calculated. And their corresponding specificity and sensitivity of predicting shunting response were calculated according to the follow-up results after shunting. RESULTS: The multidomain assessment performance except TUG at 8 hours were significantly improved at each time point after CSF TT compared with baseline (P<0.01). Reduction more than 10% in the 10-meter walking time and number of steps at 24 hours showed the highest specificity (both 85.7%) and sensitivity (37.5% and 46.7%, respectively) for predicting shunting response. Additionally, an improvement of more than 20% in the composite z score at 72 hours showed 100% specificity and 80% sensitivity for predicting shunting response. CONCLUSION: Multiple time points and multidomain assessment were helpful to identify more shunting responders. Executive function evaluation might be a candidate tool to increase the effectiveness of CSF TT.