Detection of cerebral microbleeds in patients treated with oral anticoagulants

Background and aims: Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are perivascular hemosiderin deposits frequently detected in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage and ischemic cerebral infarction. If proven a marker for bleeding-prone microangiopathy, CMBs might be of prognostic value in the therapeutic decision of anticoagulation. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the appearance of CMBs using Gradient echo T2*-weighted MRI in persons treated with oral anticoagulants without symptomatic cerebrovascular disease. Methods: We used data of 494 elderly community-dwelling individuals (mean age 62 years, 247 male) without and…