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Relationship between vertebral artery hypoplasia and posterior circulation stroke in Chinese patients

  • Diagnostic Neuroradiology
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Abstract

Introduction

Vertebral artery hypoplasia (VAH), which has been found in about 10 % of normal individuals, does not produce symptoms but may be associated with an increased risk of cerebral posterior circulation ischemic (PCI) stroke. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of VAH in Chinese patients with cerebral infarction and investigate whether VAH is an independent risk factor for PCI stroke.

Methods

The medical records of 841 Chinese stroke patients were reviewed retrospectively. All patients underwent either cervical contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) or cervical computed tomography angiography (CTA). There is no standard definition of VAH; we defined it as a vertebral artery <2 mm in diameter and the whole artery was slim or absent on CE-MRA or CTA. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify significant independent risk factors for PCI stroke.

Results

There were 230 patients (27.3 %) diagnosed with PCI stroke and 91 patients diagnosed with VAH (10.8 %). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that VAH, male gender, and stenosis of the posterior circulation were independent risk factors for PCI stroke.

Conclusions

Our results show that VAH is not rare in Chinese patients with stroke and that its presence increases the risk of PCI stroke.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China [nos. 81271302 and 81070914 to J.R. Liu] and a grant from the “New One Hundred Talent Project” from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China [2012, to J.R. Liu].

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 639 Zhizaoju Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, 200011, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yue Hu, Zheng-Xi Li, Wei Chen, Hui Pan & Jian-Ren Liu

  2. Department of Neurology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yue Hu, Hui-Qin Liu, Meng-Li Wei, Shan Fang, Jin-Xiu Huang & Jian-Ren Liu

  3. Wuxi People’s Hospital, Wuxi, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Yue Hu

  4. Department of Neurology, People’s Hospital of Henan Province, Zhengzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Hui-Qin Liu

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Armed Police Hospital of Hangzhou, Hangzhou Zhijiang Hospital, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Min Zhang

  6. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Yi-Min Zhu

Authors
  1. Xiao-Yue Hu
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  2. Zheng-Xi Li
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  3. Hui-Qin Liu
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  4. Min Zhang
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  5. Meng-Li Wei
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  6. Shan Fang
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  7. Wei Chen
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  8. Hui Pan
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  9. Jin-Xiu Huang
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  10. Yi-Min Zhu
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  11. Jian-Ren Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jian-Ren Liu.

Additional information

Xiao-Yue Hu and Zheng-Xi Li contributed equally to the manuscript.

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Hu, XY., Li, ZX., Liu, HQ. et al. Relationship between vertebral artery hypoplasia and posterior circulation stroke in Chinese patients. Neuroradiology 55, 291–295 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-012-1112-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-012-1112-y

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