Xu Han1,
Jianming Cai1, Danqing Liu1, Lin Ma1,
Youquan Cai1, Xihai Zhao2
1Department
of Radiology, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China; 2Center for
Biomedical Imaging Research & Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
This study investigated the correlation of atherosclerotic disease between intracranial and extracranial carotid arteries using MR multicontrast, high resolution, black-blood vessel wall imaging. We found that there was significant correlation between intracranial and extracranial atherosclerotic diseases. We also found that there was significant correlation for severity of atherosclerotic disease between intracranial and extracranial circulations. Our findings further compel the evidence that atherosclerosis is a systemic disease that usually impacts multiple vascular territories and suggest that atherosclerotic plaque at extracranial carotid artery might be an indicator for either presence or severity of intracranial atherosclerosis.