Evaluation of Cerebral White Matter Changes for Sudanese Hypertensive Patients Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The aim of this study was to evaluate the cerebral white matter changes for Sudanese hypertensive patients using magnetic resonance imaging. The sample consisted of thirty subjects randomly chosen from modern medical center and Asiahospital, they divided into control group and hypertensive group, both underwent magnetic resonance scans for the brain by (1.5T or 0.2T) machine using comparable protocols included (T1, T2 and Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery pulse sequences), a semi-quantitative visual rating scale (Fazekas) was used to assess the changes of cerebral white matter. The data analyzed by (SPSS) and the p value was (0.05). The study found that; the hypertensive group had more white matter changes than the control group, there was a statistically significant difference between them for periventricular white matter changes (19.20 _ 11.80, p = 0.014), while no significant difference for deep white matter changes was present (17.90_13.10, p = 0.055). Regarding the control status of hypertension; the patients who had controlled blood pressure got either none, mild or moderate changes whereas uncontrolled one had severe white matter changes, the differences between them for periventricular and deep white matter changes were (4.94_11.50, p = 0.003) and (7.12_ 9.00, p = 0.355) respectively. The duration of hypertension showed a statistically significant high negative correlation ( - 0.743, p= 0.001) with periventricular white matter changes, and insignificant weak negative correlation ( - 0.230, p= 0.409) with deep white matter changes. Cerebral white matter changes appeared as a normal finding for aging process in control group, while in hypertensive group they tend to occur earlier in life and appear to be more severe, this may indicate that; hypertension can accelerate brain aging.