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Imaging the Centenarian Brain
Author(s) -
Goldstein Steven J.,
Wekstein David R.,
Kirkpatrick Charmaine,
Lee Charles,
Markesbery William R.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1985.tb06312.x
Subject(s) - centenarian , medicine , cerebral atrophy , atrophy , brain function , blood pressure , brain aging , cardiology , gerontology , cognition , neuroscience , psychiatry , longevity , biology
Ten healthy and mentally alert centenarians underwent cranial computed tomography (CT) using a fourth‐generation CT scanner. The subjects ranged in age from 100 to 102 years, and included six women and four men. Two of them used alcohol on a daily basis and five had systolic blood pressures of at least 160 mmHg. The CT scans demonstrated considerable variation in the degree of cerebral atrophy, which had no relation to either sex, alcohol use, or hypertension. Three of the centenarians had evidence of mild periventricular white matter lucency. Although progressive cerebral atrophy is an integral aspect of the normal aging process in the very elderly, its exact relationship to cognitive function remains unclear.