The relationship between regional brain volumes and the extent of coronary artery disease in mild cognitive impairment

Background: There are conflicting reports regarding the association between coronary artery disease (CAD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Volumetric Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigations have been considered as an objective biomarker for MCI. In this study, we determined the relationship between the regional brain volumes and the extent of CAD in MCI patients and cognitively normal controls. Materials and Methods: In a case-control study a subset of MCI patients (n = 20) and cognitively normal controls (n = 20), aged 66.4 ± 4.6 and 65.3 ± 3.9 respectively, from subjects who were recently admitted to cardiac catheterization facilities in two general hospitals were selected. All subjects underwent a clinical interview, biochemical measures, neuropsychological testing and Neuropsychiatry Unit COGnitive assessment tool. Video records of coronary angiography were scored with the Gensini method. For volumetric evaluation of regions of interest, brain MRI scans was processed using the FreeSurfer software package the relationship between the regional brain volumes and the extent of CAD in MCI patients and cognitively normal controls were compared. Results: We have found that, there were significant differences between the two groups in volumes of left fusiform (P = 0.039), left pars triangularis (P = 0.003) and left superior temporal gyrus (P = 0.009), after controlling for intracranial volumes. Higher Gensini scores were associated with reduced volumes of total cortical volume (P = 0.047, R = −0.4), left precuneus (P = 0.022, R = −0.5), right inferior parietal lobule (P = 0.011, R = −0.5) and left supra marginal gyrus (P = 0.035, R = −0.04) in MCI. Conclusion: In MCI, a greater degree of coronary stenosis correlates with greater loss of gray matter in specific brain regions relevant to cognitive function. This, however, was not the case for cognitively normal subjects.