Intracranial Artery Atherosclerosis and Lumen Dilation in Cerebral Small‐Vessel Diseases: A High‐resolution MRI Study
Year: 2014
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI), we aimed to investigate the abnormalities of intracranial artery in relation to cerebral small-vessel diseases (SVD)-related ischemic stroke and white matter lesions (WMLs). METHODS: Routine cranial MRI and HR-MRI were performed on consecutive patients with a SVD-related acute deep brain infarct (DBI) in the territory of middle cerebral artery (MCA), patients with SVD-related WMLs, and age-matched controls. The presence and distribution of MCA plaque and the area of MCA lumen and wall were comparatively analyzed among the groups. RESULTS: A total of 2340 image slices of 260 vessels in 130 subjects (57 with an acute DBI, 28 with WMLs, and 45 control subjects) were analyzed. In the patients with a DBI, eccentric plaques were identified in 26 vessels ipsilateral and 24 vessels contralateral to the ischemic lesions. Superior-wall plaques of MCA were observed more frequently ipsilateral than contralateral to the infarcts (69.2% vs. 37.5%, P = 0.025). Compared to the controls, larger outer-wall boundary area (P ≤ 0.017) and wall area (P < 0.001) were observed in the patients, while larger lumen was only observed in the WMLs group (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Middle cerebral artery superior-wall plaques are associated with acute DBIs, while MCA lumen dilation is associated with WMLs.
Source: CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics
DOI: 10.1111/cns.12224
Language: English
Subfield: Neurology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Award: G7121326697
OpenAlex ID: W2059765397