Huilin Zhao1, Xihai Zhao2, Ye Cao1,
Jinnan Wang3, Chun Yuan2, Xiangyang Ma4,
Jianrong Xu1
1Radiology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai
Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; 2Radiology,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States; 3Philips
Research North America, Briarcliff Manor, NY, United States; 4Philips
Research Asia, Shanghai, China
Atherosclerosis
is a systemic disease frequently involving multiple vascular territories,
such as carotid artery and cerebral arteries, which are related to
cerebrovascular events. Thus, atherosclerotic disease in one vascular bed may
be an indicator for the other vasculatures. This study sought to determine
the association of atherosclerotic plaque burden between carotid arteries and
M1 segment of middle cerebral arteries using MR black-blood vessel wall
imaging in 31 symptomatic patients. We found that development of
atherosclerosis has been shown to be parallel in intracranial and
extracranial cerebrovascular system in stokes. Our findings suggest that
atherosclerotic disease in carotid artery may be an indicator of intracranial
cerebrovascular atheroma, or vice versa.