Presence of one or more chronic microinfarcts (i.e., chronic microscopic infarctions) as determined by neuropathologic evaluations performed at Rush, blinded to clinical data, and reviewed by a board-certified neuropathologist.

A minimum of nine regions in one hemisphere are examined for microinfarcts on 6µm paraffin-embedded sections, stained with hematoxylin/eosin. We examine six cortical regions (midfrontal, middle temporal, entorhinal, hippocampal, inferior parietal, and anterior cingulate cortices), two subcortical regions (anterior basal ganglia, thalamus), and midbrain. Age (acute/subacute/chronic) and location (side and region) of microinfarcts are recorded.

Total microinfarcts (acute + subacute +chronic) are available upon request. Counts (as opposed to presence of 1 or more) are available upon request.