IMPORTANCE Covert vascular brain injury (VBI) is highly prevalent in community-dwelling older persons, but its clinical and therapeutic implications are debated. OBJECTIVE To better understand the clinical significance of VBI to optimize prevention strategies for the most common age-related neurological diseases, stroke and dementia. DATA SOURCE We searched for articles in PubMed between 1966 and December 22, 2017, studying the association of 4 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of covert VBI (white matter hyperintensities [WMHs] of presumed vascular origin, MRI-defined covert brain infarcts [BIs], cerebral microbleeds [CMBs], and perivascular spaces [PVSs]) with incident stroke, dementia, or death. STUDY SELECTION Data were taken from prospective, longitudinal cohort studies including 50 or more adults. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS We performed inverse variance-weighted meta-analyses with random effects and z score-based meta-analyses for WMH burden. The significance threshold was P < .003 (17 independent tests). We complied with the Meta-analyses of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Stroke (hemorrhagic and ischemic), dementia (all and Alzheimer disease), and death. RESULTS Of 2846 articles identified, 94 studies were eligible, with up to 14 529 participants for WMH, 16 012 participants for BI, 15 693 participants for CMB, and 4587 participants for PVS. Extensive WMH burden was associated with higher risk of incident stroke (hazard ratio [

Spontaneous intracranial artery dissection is an uncommon and probably underdiagnosed cause of stroke that is defi ned by the occurrence of a haematoma in the wall of an intracranial artery. Patients can present with headache, ischaemic stroke, subarachnoid haemorrhage, or symptoms associated with mass eff ect, mostly on the brainstem. Although intracranial artery dissection is less common than cervical artery dissection in adults of European ethnic origin, intracranial artery dissection is reportedly more common in children and in Asian populations. Risk factors and mechanisms are poorly understood, and diagnosis is challenging because characteristic imaging features can be diffi cult to detect in view of the small size of intracranial arteries. Therefore, multimodal follow-up imaging is often needed to confi rm the diagnosis. Treatment of intracranial artery dissections is empirical in the absence of data from randomised controlled trials. Most patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage undergo surgical or endovascular treatment to prevent rebleeding, whereas patients with intracranial artery dissection and cerebral ischaemia are treated with antithrombotics. Prognosis seems worse in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage than in those without.

Objective: We aimed to examine the association of APOE e genotype with MRI markers of cerebrovascular disease (CVD): white matter hyperintensities, brain infarcts, and cerebral microbleeds.Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of 42 cross-sectional or longitudinal studies identified in PubMed from 1966 to June 2012 (n 5 29,965). This included unpublished data from 3 population-based studies: 3C-Dijon, Framingham Heart Study, and Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. When necessary, authors were contacted to provide effect estimates for the meta-analysis. Conclusions: APOE e4 and APOE e2 were associated with increasing burden in MRI markers for both hemorrhagic and ischemic CVD. While the association of APOE e4 with an increased burden of CVD could be partly contributing to the relationship between APOE e4 and AD, APOE e2 was associated with MRI markers of CVD in the opposite direction compared to AD. The e4 allele of the APOE gene is a major risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD). Results 1-6The association of APOE with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is more controversial.7 APOE e4 is a risk factor for cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), a major determinant of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in older individuals.1 Recent data from the International Stroke Genetics Consortium suggest an association of APOE e4 with an increased risk of ICH, mostly lobar, 8 and an association of the APOE e2 allele with an increased risk and size of lobar ICH. 8,9 Whether the epsilon polymorphism is also associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke and MRI markers of CVD is unclear.7 MRI markers of CVD-white matter hyperintensities (WMH), brain infarcts (BI), and cerebral microbleeds (CMB)-are powerful predictors of stroke and dementia.10-13 They are highly prevalent in older community-dwelling persons, [14][15][16] and can be assessed noninvasively and quantitatively in large population-based samples. Dissecting the relationship between APOE and MRI