Having cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar (from diabetes), high dietary fat intake (high cholesterol) and smoking can all increase the number of white matter spots or lesions in your brain.
White matter lesions can be seen in a range of neurologic disorders, most often with vascular diseases such as stroke , migraine , and multiple sclerosis (MS).
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].
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.
VWM is a recessive genetic disease, meaning both parents carry a mutation on the same gene that has been inherited by their child. Each child of parents who carry VWM has a 25% chance of having VWM, a 50% chance of being a carrier, and a 25% of being unaffected.
Late infantile metachromatic leukodystrophy
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.
White matter lesions (WMLs) are areas of abnormal myelination in the brain. These lesions are best visualized as hyperintensities on T2 weighted and FLAIR (Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery) sequences of magnetic resonance imaging. They are considered a marker of small vessel disease.
White matter dynamically changes in response to learning, stress, and social experiences. Several lines of evidence have reported white matter dysfunction in psychiatric conditions, including depression, stress- and anxiety-related disorders.
Summary: Age-related changes in the brain -- the appearance, starting around age 60, of "white-matter lesions" among the brain's message-carrying axons -- significantly affect cognitive function in old age. White-matter lesions are small bright patches that show up on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain.
The presence of white matter hyperintensities has been correlated with a higher risk of stroke, which can lead to vascular dementia. White matter hyperintensities are often referred to as white matter disease. Initially, white matter disease was thought to simply be related to aging.
Remarkably, WM volume gradually increases in the first 40 years of life, peaks at around 50 years of age, and then decreases rapidly from 60 years of age onwards (Liu et al., 2016).
Those who had more severe cases of insomnia or suffered from the disorder for longer periods of time had greater white matter abnormalities. The researchers suggested this could be due to the loss of myelin -- the protective coating around the nerve fibers in white matter.
Cerebral white matter lesions are thought to represent vascular abnormalities. White matter lesions have been related to affective disorders and a history of late-onset depression in psychiatric patients.
White matter hyperintensities are present in 43.1% of migraine patients. Age, presence of aura, nausea, disability during attack, resistance to treatment, and severity of headache and duration of migraine are considered a risk factor for development of white matter hyperintensities.
By age 60, this degeneration, termed white matter disease, is present in more than half of the population. Originally, white matter disease was considered a normal, age-related change.
These data demonstrate a consistent regional scaling relationship between global and regional WMSA that can be used to classify individuals into one of four stages of white matter disease.
“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.
White matter disease is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease risk factors, and researchers believe that white matter disease is a biomarker (medical sign) of the lifelong risk of stroke, dementia and disability.
The progression of WMH can be slowed by controlling vascular risk factors. One study found that controlling blood pressure with medication slowed the progression of WMH in patients who had a stroke (Dufouil et al., 2005).
Age-related white matter disease is progressive, meaning it can get worse. But you can take steps to stop it from spreading. Scientists think you might even be able to repair the damage, if you catch it early. Keep your blood pressure and blood sugar in check.
“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.
“In general, white matter disease causes acute MS symptoms, like numbness and weakness," Stone says. "Gray matter disease causes progressive symptoms, like fatigue and memory loss. These higher brain functions are called cognitive functions. Most MS disability actually comes from cognitive dysfunction."
Introduction. 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].
Approximately half the brain is grey matter, made up of cell bodies including neurons, the other half, referred to as white matter is composed of neuronal projections which are insulated by fatty membranes and therefore appear white. Tumour cells use the white matter as a route to spread to other brain regions.