Brugulat Serrat, Anna, 1986-Rojas, SantiagoBargallo, NuriaConesa Bertrán, GerardoMinguillón, CarolinaFauria, KarineGramunt Fombuena, NinaMolinuevo, José LuisDomingo Gispert, Juan2017-07-142017-07-142017Brugulat-Serrat A, Rojas S, Bargalló N, Conesa G, Minguillón C, Fauria K, Gramunt N, Molinuevo JL, Domingo Gispert J. Incidental findings on brain MRI of cognitively normal first-degree descendants of patients with Alzheimer's disease: a cross-sectional analysis from the ALFA (Alzheimer and Families) project. BMJ Open. 2017; 7(3): e013215. DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-0132152044-6055http://hdl.handle.net/10230/32543Objectives: To describe the prevalence of brain MRI incidental findings (IF) in a cohort of cognitively normal first-degree descendants of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Setting: All scans were obtained with a 3.0 T scanner. Scans were evaluated by a single neuroradiologist and IF recorded and categorised. The presence of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) was determined with the Fazekas scale and reported as relevant if ≥2. Participants: 575 participants (45–75 years) underwent high-resolution structural brain MRI. Participants were cognitively normal and scored over the respective cut-off values in all the following neuropsychological tests: Mini-Mental State Examination (≥26), Memory Impairment Screen (≥6), Time Orientation Subtest of the Barcelona Test II (≥68), verbal semantic fluency (naming animals ≥12). Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) had to be 0. Results: 155 participants (27.0%) presented with at least one IF. Relevant WMH were present in 7.8% of the participants, and vascular abnormalities, cyst and brain volume loss in 10.7%, 3.1% and 6.9% of the study volunteers, respectively. Neoplastic brain findings were found in 2.4% of participants and within these, meningiomas were the most common (1.7%) and more frequently found in women. A positive correlation between increasing age and the presence of IF was found. Additionally, brain atrophy greater than that expected by age was significantly more prevalent in participants without a parental history of AD. Conclusions: Brain MRIs of healthy middle-aged participants show a relatively high prevalence of IF even when study participants have been screened for subtle cognitive alterations. Most of our participants are first-degree descendants of patients with AD, and therefore these results are of special relevance for novel imaging studies in the context of AD prevention in cognitively healthy middle-aged participants.application/pdfeng© Brugulat-Serrat A et al. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/ This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013215Alzheimer's diseaseCerebral MRIHealthyIncidental findingLate middle-agedPreventioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess