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Non-stenotic intracranial arteries have atherosclerotic changes in acute ischemic stroke patients: a 3T MRI study

  • Diagnostic Neuroradiology
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Abstract

Introduction

The aim of this study is to evaluate the degree of atherosclerotic changes in intracranial arteries by assessing arterial wall thickness using T1-weighted 3D-turbo spin echo (3D-TSE) and time-of-flight MR angiography (TOF-MRA) in patients with acute ischemic stroke as compared with unaffected controls.

Methods

Thirty-three patients with acute ischemic stroke and 36 control patients were analyzed. Acute ischemic stroke patients were divided according to TOAST classification. At both distal internal carotid arteries and basilar artery without stenosis, TOF-MRA was used to select non-stenotic portion of assessed arteries. 3D-TSE was used to measure the area including the lumen and wall (AreaOuter) and luminal area (AreaInner). The area of the vessel wall (AreaVW) of assessed intracranial arteries and the ratio index (RI) of each patient were determined.

Results

AreaInner, AreaOuter, AreaVW, and RI showed good inter-observer reliability and excellent intra-observer reliability. AreaInner did not significantly differ between stroke patients and controls (P = 0.619). However, AreaOuter, AreaVW, and RI were significantly larger in stroke patients (P < 0.001). The correlation coefficient between AreaInner and AreaOuter was higher in the controls (r = 0.918) than in large vessel disease patients (r = 0.778). RI of large vessel disease patients was significantly higher than that of normal control, small vessel disease, and cardioembolic groups.

Conclusion

In patients with acute ischemic stroke, wall thickening and positive remodeling are evident in non-stenotic intracranial arteries. This change is more definite in stroke subtype that is related to atherosclerosis than that in other subtypes which are not.

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Ethical standards and patient consent

We declare that all human studies have been approved by the Institutional Review Board and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. We declare that the Institutional Review Board waived consent.

Conflict of interest

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222 Banpo-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 137-701, South Korea

    Woo Jin Lee, Hyun Seok Choi, Jinhee Jang, Jinkyeong Sung, So-Lyung Jung, Kook-Jin Ahn & Bum-soo Kim

  2. Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

    Tae-Won Kim & Jaseong Koo

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, South Korea

    Yong Sam Shin

Authors
  1. Woo Jin Lee
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  2. Hyun Seok Choi
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  3. Jinhee Jang
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  5. Tae-Won Kim
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  7. Yong Sam Shin
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  8. So-Lyung Jung
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  9. Kook-Jin Ahn
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  10. Bum-soo Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinhee Jang.

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Lee, W.J., Choi, H.S., Jang, J. et al. Non-stenotic intracranial arteries have atherosclerotic changes in acute ischemic stroke patients: a 3T MRI study. Neuroradiology 57, 1007–1013 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-015-1566-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00234-015-1566-9

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