Silent strokes and other unrecognized brain abnormalities—including benign tumors and aneurysms—are common among older people, new research shows. Brain imaging was performed on 2,000 people participating in an ongoing study from the Netherlands designed to explore the effect of aging on the brain. The average age of the study participants was 63.

        Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that 7% of the participants showed evidence of a previous unrecognized asymptomatic stroke.

        An additional 1.6% had benign brain tumors and nearly 2% had aneurysms. Only two of the people with incidental brain findings reported symptoms that would indicate a neurological problem.

        The clinical relevance of these incidental brain findings is not completely clear, but earlier studies by the same research team showed that the presence of silent strokes on brain imaging more than doubles the risk for a subsequent major stroke and dementia. The researchers say that there is a relationship between asymptomatic stroke and symptomatic stroke and dementia. And they need strategies to prevent the consequences. Many people ignore symptoms of a small stroke, or they may not associate them with a stroke. Any symptom that might indicate a stroke should always be reported to a doctor, even if the symptom goes away, they advised.

        According to the American Stroke Association, signs of potential stroke include: sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arms, legs especially on one side of the body; sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or trouble understanding; sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes; sudden trouble walking dizziness and loss of balance and coordination sudden severe headache with no known cause.

        The fact that almost 2% of the study population had asymptomatic aneurysms or benign brain tumors were more surprising than the silent stroke finding. The use of brain imaging for diagnosis and clinical research increases more and more clinically ambiguous brain abnormalities will be discovered. The best course of managing these asymptomatic brain issues is not known, because it is not clear how often they lead to serious problems.

        They need studies to clarify the clinical implications of asymptomatic brain abnormalities and people who participate in (imaging) studies need to be made aware of the possibility of these incidental finding which not may not treatment, the researcher say.