Sleep apnea syndrome and cerebral lesions - A prospective MRI study

It seems well known that sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is associated with cardiovascular complications, inclusive myocardial infarctions. Our study aimed to test the hypothesis that patients suffering from cerebral SAS have more cerebrovascular findings resp. brain infarctions than a matched control group. We analysed prospectively MRI studies of 14 patients with SAS and controls without SAS in respect of specific and nonspecific vascular cerebral lesions including atrophic changes of the brain. In contrast to our expectations, the rate of SAS-associated ischemic brain lesions is unimportant and not significantly different from age-associated brain lesions in controls. The rate of brain infarctions is distinctly different from that of myocardial infarctions. The outcomes are discussed with regard to new results of ''ischemia-induced'' ischemic tolerance on different tissues.