Background: This study aims to explore the features of
gait disorders with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), and results from
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were
analyzed. Methods: The 139 patients with CSVD were divided into
two groups by the Tinetti scale scores: the gait disorder (GD) group with a score
24 (63 patients) and the normal gait (GN) group with a score 24 (76
patients). A series of scales and 3.0T MRI with DTI were used to analyze the
correlation between the abnormal gaits and imaging findings.
Results: The differences in the Barthel Index, Unified
Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment
(MoCA) scores between the two groups were significant (p 0.05), and
there were significant correlations between MoCA and total gait scores (r
= 0.201, p = 0.002). The GD group had a more degraded gait score,
widened gait base, and degraded gait length than the GN group (p
0.05). There were significant differences between the two groups (p
0.05) in white matter (WM) hyperintensities (WMH) of the Fazekas scale grade 2–3
and lacunes. The GD group had a greater total MRI burden than the GN group
(p 0.05). In DTI parameters, the GD group had lower fractional
anisotropy (FA) and higher mean diffusion (MD) values in WM tracts in many areas
around the ventricles (family-wise error corrected, p 0.05).
Significant correlations were observed between FA and the total gait score
(r = 0.467, p 0.01), and also between MD and total gait
score (r = –0.422, p 0.01). Conclusions: Patients
with CSVD with gait disorders had more WMH of Fazekas scale grade 2–3, lacunes,
and total MRI burden than the GN patients, and those with gait disorders may
suffer from demyelination of nerve fibers and damage to the fibers’
microstructures.