Cerebral microbleeds in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases
Abstract Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are a kind of the morphological changes of the brain associated with damage to small cerebral arteries detected on GRE MRI as small, round, well-defined, hypointense lesions, sized 3-10 mm, which indicate the deposition of hemosiderin. CMBs can be detected in cerebral microangiopathy of different origins (cerebral amyloid angiopathy, hypertensive arteriopathy, vasculitis, hereditary angiopathy) and may be a predictor of macrobleeds. This article discusses the clinical significance of CMBs in cerebrovascular, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive disorders as well as the possibility of using antiplatelet agents and anticoagulants in patients with CMBs.