Arterial walls stiffen with age, cardiovascular risk factors, and various
vascular diseases, which may lead to less damping of the arterial blood flow
pulse, subsequent microvascular damage, and enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS).
However, the exact interplay between these processes is unclear. This study
aimed to investigate the relation between blood flow velocity pulsatility in the
small lenticulostriate arteries and their supplying middle cerebral artery and
the respective damping factor (DF), with the number of MRI-visible PVS in
elderly subjects. Blood flow velocity waveforms were obtained in 45 subjects
(median age [range]: 64 [48–81] years, 47% male) using 7T MRI. PVS were scored
in the basal ganglia (BG) and centrum semiovale (CSO). Spearman correlation
analyses were used to determine associations of the blood flow pulsatility and
the DF, with PVS score, adjusted for age and sex. We found a significant
association between a lower DF and a higher number of PVS in the BG
(rs= −0.352,P= 0.021),
but not in the CSO. This finding supports the supposed pathophysiological
mechanism in which excessive kinetic energy deposition leads to damage of small
perforating arteries and contributes to the enlargement of PVS at the level of
the BG, but possible other pathways might also be of influence.