Is white matter a disease?

White matter disease is a disease that affects the nerves that link various parts of the brain to each other and to the spinal cord. These nerves are also called white matter. White matter disease causes these areas to decline in their functionality. This disease is also referred to as leukoaraiosis.

What diseases cause white matter?

Other causes of white matter lesions

Lesions are common features of non-vascular conditions, including demyelinating inflammatory disorders, such as multiple sclerosis, and genetic causes like leukodystrophy.

Is white matter disease normal?

Originally, white matter disease was considered a normal, age-related change. But over the last decade, medical experts have come to understand that the presence of large areas of disease in the white matter of the brain are associated with cognitive decline and dementia in patients.

Is white matter disease terminal?

It is not possible to stop disease progression, and it is typically fatal within 6 months to 4 years of symptom onset. People with the juvenile form of metachromatic leukodystrophy, which develops between the age of 4 and adolescence, may live for many years after diagnosis.

Is white matter disease dementia?

White matter has a legitimate position in the study of dementia. The neuropathology of white matter disorders is typically diffuse or widespread, thus disrupting many networks simultaneously and producing a multi-domain syndrome that merits the term dementia.

Severity of White Matter Hyperintensities

Is white matter disease treatable?

Treatments: While there is no known cure for white matter disease, treatments can help to manage the symptoms. Controlling the risk factors associated with heart disease can help decrease the progression of the disease.

How long can someone live with white matter disease?

In general, the prognosis is grave, with the majority of patients dying after a few years. However, some die only after several months, and some manage to survive for several decades [6].

Is white matter disease the same as Alzheimer's?

Unlike Alzheimer's disease which shrinks the hippocampus causing progressive memory loss, white matter disease is a more diffuse mind-robbing condition that targets small blood vessels deep within the brain's white matter.

What doctor treats white matter disease?

A radiologist, particularly a neuroradiologist, has expertise in what the brain should look like on an MRI. When evaluating for white matter disease, the radiologist will be looking for abnormal signal in the brain tissue.

Is white matter disease the same as small vessel disease?

Now, perhaps the best technical term for what I'm referring to is “cerebral small vessel disease.” But many other synonyms are used by the medical community — especially in radiology reports. They include: Small vessel ischemic disease. White matter disease.

Is white matter disease the same as vascular dementia?

White matter disease (WMD), also called multiple cerebral infarction, is regarded as the common cause of “mild” dementia in the elderly, and if dementia is the main problem, it is called a vascular dementia (Roman et al., 1993).

What does white matter in a brain scan mean?

White matter disease is commonly detected on brain MRI of aging individuals as white matter hyperintensities (WMH), or 'leukoaraiosis.” Over the years it has become increasingly clear that the presence and extent of WMH is a radiographic marker of small cerebral vessel disease and an important predictor of the life- ...

How common is white matter disease in the elderly?

White matter lesions are often found on MR scans of elderly people, they are attributed to degenerative changes of long penetrating arteries. 1-6 Reported prevalence ranges from 5% to 90%, depending on study design, study population, and rating scales.

What is the treatment for white matter disease?

White matter disease doesn't have a cure, but there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms. The primary treatment is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help with any balance and walking difficulties you may develop.

Does white matter disease cause headaches?

Patients with extensive white matter hyperintensities are likely to have tension-type headaches or to have headaches develop during middle age, according to results published in Cephalagia.

Are white matter lesions serious?

White matter lesions are among the most common incidental findings—which means the lesions have no clinical significance—on brain scans of people of any age. They may also reflect a mixture of inflammation, swelling, and damage to the myelin.

Is white matter disease painful?

In addition, white matter hyperintensities (WMH), for example in the spinothalamic tract, also referred to as the anterolateral pathway, may lead to an increase in pain experience; this type of pain is paraphrased as deafferentiation pain.

Does everyone have white matter in the brain?

See other articles in PMC that cite the published article. “Gray matter” is only one of two types of brain tissue; the other “white matter” is rarely mentioned. Yet white matter makes up half the human brain and has not been thought to be important in cognition or learning outside the context of pathology.

Can white matter in the brain be repaired?

White matter injuries are very serious, but, depending on the type and extent of the injury, extensive recovery may occur. As long as the neuron cell bodies remain healthy, axons can regrow and slowly repair themselves.

Does white matter increase with age?

Age-correlated studies reveal that the changes in white matter may be much higher than those of gray matter (Miller et al., 1980). Upto 40 years of age, the white matter volume increases and is closely related to the formation of the myelin sheath (Courchesne et al., 2000; Bartzokis, 2004).

Which type of dementia is associated with white matter lesions?

White matter lesions increase the risk of poststroke dementia and, together with lacunar infarcts, are considered the primary type of brain lesions in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia.

Is white matter disease rare?

Although it is a rare disorder, it is believed to be one of the most common inherited diseases that affect the white matter.

Does white matter disease cause fatigue?

Brain white matter (WM), and more specifically neuronal connectivity, is thought to perform a crucial role in the central processing of fatigue [1]. In diseases of the WM, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), persisting fatigue is a common disabling complication [2].

Can white matter disease be caused by trauma?

“White matter damage is definitely prevalent,” Stevens explains. “Virtually all brain trauma patients have it in some form.” They don't need to suffer severe trauma—people can experience it after a concussion, a fleeting loss of consciousness, he says.

Does high blood pressure cause white matter disease?

Several studies have suggested that people with high blood pressure have a greater chance of accumulating white matter lesions and experiencing later-in-life cognitive impairment and dementia.