Imaging Techniques for the Detection and Diagnosis of Brain Damage in Hypertension

Hypertension is the major causal factor of neurovascular pathology including both vascular and parenchymal lesions. These lesions are the consequence of large vessel and small vessel ischaemic infarctions, macrohaemorrhages, and microbleeds, as well as vascular and parenchymal brain alterations leading to cerebral tissue disintegration and secondary effects on brain metabolism and function. This chapter includes a description of the images of different brain lesions, silent and clinical, induced by hypertension. Also, recent advances in functional neuroimaging for characterizing the effects of hypertension on the brain integrity are described.