Assessment of cerebral perfusion and edema in preeclampsia with intravoxel incoherent motion MRI

• BackgroundCerebral complications are the main reasons for morbidity and mortality in preeclampsia and eclampsia. Still we do not know if the pathophysiology entails hypo- or hyperperfusion of the brain, or how and when edema emerges, due to the difficulty to examine the cerebral circulation.Material and methodsWe have used a non-invasive diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique, intravoxel incoherent motion, to study cerebral perfusion on the capillary level and cerebral edema in women with preeclampsia (n=30), normal pregnancy (n=32) and non-pregnant women (n=16). Estimates of cerebral blood volume, blood flow and edema were measured in five different regions. These points were chosen to represent blood supply areas of both the carotid and vertebrobasilar arteries, and to include both white and grey matter.ResultsExcept for the caudate nucleus, we did not detect any differences in cerebral perfusion measures on a group level. In the caudate nucleus we found lower cerebral blood volume  and lower blood flow in preeclampsia compared to both normal pregnancy (p=0.01 and p=0.03, respectively) and non-pregnant women (both p=0.02). No differences in edema were detected between study groups.ConclusionThe cerebral perfusion measures were comparable between the study groups, except for a portion of the basal ganglia where hypoperfusion was detected in preeclampsia compared to normal pregnancy and non-pregnant women. 

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Reproduktionsmedicin och gynekologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Cerebral circulation

Edema

Eclampsia

Intravoxel incoherent motion

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Perfusion

Preeclampsia.

Obstetrik och gynekologi

Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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