Objective To study the relationship of MR diffusion tensor imaging for corpus callosum and cingulate bundles with cognitive impairment in subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD) patients.Methods Sixty elderly SIVD patients admitted to our hospital from July 2015 to June 2016 served as a SIVD group and 40 age-matched persons undergoing physical examination served as a control group in this study.The mean ADC and FA were calculated according to the MR diffusion tensor imaging parameters in region of interest.Relationship between fiber tract integraty and MMSE Scale score was compared between the two groups.Results The ADC was significantly higher while the FA was significantly lower for the genu of corpus callosum in SIVD group than in control group.However,no significant difference was found in ADC for the spenium of corpus callosum between the two groups (P＞0.05).The ADC was significantly higher while the FA was significantly lower for bilateral cingulate bundles (P＜0.05,P＜0.01).The FA for the genu of corpus callosum and bilateral cingulate bundles was positively related with the MMSE Scale score (r=0.511,r=0.469,r=0.457,P＜0.05).However,the FA for the splenium of corpus callosum was not related with the MMSE Scale score(r=0.364,P＞0.05).Conclusion Changes of MR diffusion tensor imaging parameters in corpus callosum and cingulate bundles contribute to the early prevention and treatment of cognitive impairment in SIVD patients.