WCN 2021 | Correlation between brain lesions and cognitive impairment

Didier Leys, MD, PhD, FAAN, FEAN, University of Lille, Lille, France, talks on the different types of brain lesions and their association to cognitive impairment. Several lines of evidence have demonstrated that most patients with cognitive impairment have a mixture of Alzheimer’s and vascular brain lesions, of which different types can lead to cognitive deficit. Studies have also shown that small brain lesions are associated with a secondary degenerative process that can be observed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Finally, Dr Leys explains that out of all the different brain lesions, atrophy is the best predictor of cognitive impairment. This interview took place during the XXV World Congress of Neurology.