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Studies have suggested that about 1% to 2% of healthy volunteers who undergo brain MRI have unsuspected abnormalities. However, as MRI technology improves, the prevalence of such incidental findings would be expected to increase. This study describes results from high-resolution structural brain MRI performed on 2000 healthy adults (46 to 97 years old) participating in a long-term epidemiologic study. Diagnosis of abnormalities required consensus by two experienced neuroradiologists.
Asymptomatic brain infarcts were detected in 145 people (7.2%); most were lacunar infarcts (112 infarcts; 5.6% of the population). Just one patient had a malignant tumor, but 31 (1.6%) had benign tumors. Aneurysms were found in 35 people (1.8%). The prevalence o…