Effects of a multicomponent day-care program on cerebral blood flow in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a prodromal phase of dementia and is considered an important period for intervention to prevent conversion to dementia. It has been well established that multicomponent day-care programs including exercise training, cognitive intervention and music therapy have beneficial effects on cognition, but the effects on cerebral blood flow (CBF) in MCI remain unknown. This study examined whether a multicomponent day-care program would have beneficial effects on the longitudinal changes of CBF in MCI patients. METHODS: Participants were 24 patients with MCI attending a day-care program; they underwent two 99 mTc-ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography scans during the study period. We evaluated the association between the changes of regional cerebral blood flow and the attendance rate. RESULTS: There was a significant negative correlation between the reduction of regional CBF in the right parietal region and the attendance rate. We found no significant relation between the baseline CBF images and the attendance rate. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that continuous participation in a multicomponent day-care program might prevent reduction in brain activity in patients with MCI.

The Multicomponent Day-Care Program Prevents Volume Reduction in a Memory-Related Brain Area in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

INTRODUCTION: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered an important period for interventions to prevent progression to dementia. Nonpharmacological interventions for MCI include exercise training, cognitive intervention, and music therapy. These play an important role in improving cognitive function, but their effects on brain plasticity in individuals with MCI are largely unknown. We investigated the effects of a multicomponent day-care program provided by the University of Tsukuba Hospital on the longitudinal brain volume changes in MCI patients. METHODS: MCI patients who participated in the multicomponent day-care program and underwent whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) twice during their participation (n = 14), were included. We divided them into two groups according to their attendance rate and conducted a between-group analysis of longitudinal volume changes in the whole cerebral cortex. Regional brain volumes derived from the patients' MRI were calculated with Freesurfer 6.0.0. RESULTS: The neuroimaging analysis demonstrated that the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex volume was significantly preserved in the high-attendance group compared to that of the low-attendance group. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that continuous participation in a multicomponent day-care program could help prevent a volume reduction in memory-related brain areas in patients with MCI.