Cognitive impairment, commonly reportetd as difficulty with memory and executive function, is a widely recognized clinical challenge for older persons with HF. Little is known about the relationship between brain MRI arid cognitive impairment in older persons with HF. A limited number of studies have investigated brain MRI in adults with HF and produced conflicting results. Previous findings are limited by use of lower resolution scanners (1.5 Tesia), lack of MRI techniques (i.e. combining structural sequences with perfusion sequences) and recruitment bf mixed age samples. Based on these limitations, the purpose of this research plan is to explore the relationship between brain MRI and cognitive impairment in older persons with HF using high resolution structural and perfusion scans. To accomplish this goal, we will compare 40 adults with HF who are age > 65 years old with 40 healthy, gender, age, and education matched controls. We will obtain neuropsychological measures of multiple domains, as well as MRI measurements ofthe temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex at baseline and 12-months.
