Identification of intracranial atherosclerotic plaque features associated with recurrent stroke: a multi-modality imaging study

Intracranial atherosclerotic plaque is a major cause of stroke. Both CTA and vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (VW-MRI) can identify high risk plaque features. We aim to investigate the intracranial atherosclerotic plaque features associated with recurrent stroke using a multi-modality imaging approach by combining CTA and whole brain VW-MR. We found that higher calcium burden quantified by volume and Agatston score of intracranial arteries, as well as whole-brain plaque number and culprit plaque burden were independently associated with recurrent acute stroke.