White Matter Disease : 2nd Symposium of the European Task Force on Age-Related White Matter Disorders, Amsterdam, May 1997: Proceedings. Supplement Issue: Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders 1998, Vol. 9, Suppl. 1

The advent of brain imaging techniques in the 1970s disclosed abnormalities in the subcortical white matter of a high number of elderly subjects.

These changes appear increasingly relevant to motor cognitive impairment of the aging brain.

A European task force studying age-related white matter changes has been set up with the aim of expanding knowledge, harmonizing definition criteria and increasing both clinical and experimental research.

These proceedings are organized with the above purposes in mind.

The focus is primarily on pathophysiology. Pathology data, the role of risk factors, relation of imaging to pathology and preliminary experimental evidence about the sensitivity of white matter to ischaemia are also presented and discussed.