The age that white matter disease starts is usually by age 65 although white matter disease can also occur in people before age 30.
Although white matter disease is less common in people before age 30 and before age 65.
Around 90 percent of cases of white matter disease start by age 65.
The prevalence of white matter disease increases significantly between the ages of 40 to 60 years of age.
The first signs of white matter disease are slowed thinking, difficulty with concentration and memory, problems multitasking, clumsiness or uncoordinated movements, difficulty with gait and balance and weakness or stiffness in your limbs.
Sensory changes that can occur with white matter disease are hearing loss, vision problems and numbness or tingling in your feet, face and or hands.
Other symptoms of white matter disease are depression or anxiety, fatigue, falls and urinary incontinence.
White matter disease is an umbrella term for damage to the brain's white matter that is caused by reduced blood flow to the tissue.
The white spots on brain MRI mean white matter hyperintensities which can mean various different underlying conditions.
White spots on brain MRI or white matter hyperintensities are common in older people, often as a result of small vessel disease, "narrowing of blood vessels in your brain".
The white matter hyperintensities are also characteristic of multiple sclerosis, which is an autoimmune disease that damages the myelin sheath, "protective covering" around the nerve fibers.
Even chronic migraines and small strokes or transient ischemic attacks can result in white matter hyperintensities.
Having white spots on a brain MRI is not always a reason to worry although it can sometimes be serious and in some cases the white spots on brain MRI can be a result of vitamin deficiencies, infections and even migraines.
Also having any cardiovascular risk factors like elevated blood sugar from diabetes, high blood pressure, high dietary fat intake, high cholesterol and even smoking can also increase the number of white matter spots or lesions in your brain.
White matter lesions, which are visualized as hyperintensities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, signify abnormal myelination in the brain and can serve as markers for small vessel disease.
The white matter lesions are considered a marker of small vessel disease.
However, there are numerous non-vascular causes, as well.
Malignant tissue can also show up on MRI images as a white or very light mass, whereas it would be dark in color on an ultrasound image.
Contrast dye, which is a substance injected into the body before some MRI scans, enables a malignant tumor to appear more brightly on MRI scan images.