ScienceAugust 9, 2026

hyperintensities

hy-per-in-TEN-si-teez

Definition

Bright, abnormal white spots visible on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that indicate tissue damage, such as lesion buildup or fluid accumulation, within the brain's white matter.

Etymology

Derived from the prefix 'hyper-' (meaning over or beyond) and 'intensity', reflecting the higher signal strength or brightness of these areas on an MRI scan compared to healthy surrounding tissue.

In the news

In this article, the term refers to MRI-detectable lesions that mark vascular damage and tissue degradation, which researchers use to contrast against the more subtle, microscopic white matter changes detected by the PSMD metric.

Alzheimer’s: MRI metric identifies early white matter damage

Read the full article ↗

healthcare-in-europe.com

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