Kidney-brain crosstalk: early assessment of brain damage in chronic kidney disease by using brain microcirculation impariment features

Motivation: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence is rising worldwide, potentially impacting brain health via vascular pathways. Goal(s): Compare brain damage across CKD severity levels, identify key imaging features, and provide early indicators. Approach: Enrolled 80 CKD patients, gathered eGFR and MRI data, analyzed cerebral microcirculation features and correlated them with CKD severity using ANOVA and logistic regression. Results: Severe CKD correlates with higher WMH scores; WMH identified as an independent predictor of brain damage in CKD patients. Impact: WMH potentially serving as an early warning indicator of the severity of cerebral damage in kidney disease.