Clinical significance of plaque enhancement in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis: a high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging study / 国际脑血管病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the influencing factors and clinical significance of high-resolution magnetic renounce imaging (HR-MRI) plaque enhancement in patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic (ICAS) stenosis.Methods Patients with symptomatic ICAS stenosis confirmed by digital subtraction angiography and examined by HR-MRI were enrolled prospectively.The demographic data,vascular risk factors,laboratory tests,and imaging features of plaques were compared according to whether the plaques were enhanced or not.They were randomly divided into an ischemic stroke group and a transient ischemic attack (TIA) group according to the results of diffusion-weighted imaging.The relationship between plaque enhancement and ischemic stroke was analyzed.Results Thirty-fiwe patients with symptomatic ICAS stenosis were enrolled.Their mean age was 53 ± 13 years and 25 were males.There were 21 patientswith ischemic stroke and 14 patients with TIA;22 had plaque enhancement and 13 did not have.The leukocyte count ([7.50±2.30] × 109/L vs.[5.80± 1.00] × 109/L;t=2.487,P=0.018) and proportion of severe stenosis (86.4％ vs.53.8％;P =0.040) of the plaque enhancement group were significantly higher than those of the non-enhancement group.The proportion of smoking was significantly lower than the non-enhancement group (13.6％ vs.46.2％;P=0.050).The plaque enhancement rate of the ischemic stroke group was higher than that of the TIA group (71.4％ vs.50.0％;P =0.288),but there was no significant difference.Conclusions In patients with symptomatic ICAS,the degree of vascular stenosis and the leukocyte level were associated with plaque enhancement.In addition,there was no significant correlation between plaque enhancement and the occurrence of ischemic stroke in patients with symptomatic ICAS.