J Med Assoc Thai 2009; 92 (4):543

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Reliability Study of White Matter Rating Scale for the Dementia and Disability in Thai Elderly Project
Chawalparit O Mail, Wonglaksanapimon S , Songsaeng D , Saenanarong V

Objective: To study the reliability of white matter rating scale on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of
elderly patients in the urban community of Bangkok.

Material and Method: One hundred elderly with clinical diagnosis of cognitive impairment in the urban
community around Siriraj Hospital underwent cranial MRI according to the Dementia and Disability in Thai
Elderly Project. The axial T1wi, T2wi, and fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) were separately assessed
by two neuroradiologists. The assessment included white matter change by using Scheltens’ rating scale,
atrophy, and evidence of infarction. The inter-rater agreements were analyzed.

Results: The inter-rater agreement of periventricular hyperintensities, white matter, basal ganglion and
infratentorial foci of hyperintensities were very good (ICC = 0.89-0.98).The agreement was good for central
atrophy (Kw = 0.66) and moderate for cortical atrophy (Kw = 0.49). The silent infarction was found in the study
population and divided into cortical (15%), subcortical (26%), brainstem (3%), and infratentorial infarction
(8%).

Conclusion: White matter hyperintensities was an important radiological criteria for diagnosis of vascular
dementia. Appropriate rating scale is necessary especially in research study. The authors found that Scheltens’
rating scale needed some training and slightly time consuming at the beginning but was a good reliable tool.

Keywords:
Dementia, Dementia vascular, Diagnosis, Magnetic resonance imaging, Reproducibility of results

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