Morfologia del corpo calloso nella CADASIL (Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy): possibile influenza sul profilo cognitivo = Corpus callosum morphometry in CADASIL: Possible influence on cognitive profile

CADASIL is an inherited small vessel disease clinically characterized by recurrent migraine, TIA/strokes, mood disorders, and cognitive deficits (mostly of the dysexecutive type). The radiological hallmarks are white matter changes more or less associated with multiple lacunar infarcts. The cognitive profile is variable and not always correlated with lesion load on neuroimaging. Corpus callosum (CC) and its possible influence on cognitive performances in CADASIL patients has not been extensively evaluated. We studied CC morphometry (thickness, total area) in 8 genetically diagnosed CADASIL patients with mild cognitive decline and the possible association with neuropsychological performances. White matter changes, graded according to the Fazekas scale, were also analyzed. We found an association between the posterior part and total area of CC with short term verbal memory while white matter changes severity correlated with frontal executive functions. With the limitation of the low number of patients, the study of CC morphometry seems of interest in the evaluation of cognitive profile of CADASIL patients. A large study exploring the independence of the correlations found from the presence of other cerebral lesions is needed.