In patients with ischemic stroke of undetermined cause, the presence of small vessel disease significantly correlated with aortic plaques (detected in 76.1% of patients) and large artery atherosclerosis (p<0.001).
Cross-Sectional (n=71)
Is small vessel disease associated with cerebral large artery atherosclerosis and aortic plaques in patients with ischemic stroke of undetermined cause?
In patients with ischemic stroke of undetermined cause, small vessel disease is strongly associated with both aortic plaques and large artery atherosclerosis, indicating a close link between macro- and microangiopathy.
p-value: p=< 0.001
Background and Purpose: Large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) and small vessel disease (SVD) share common risk factors for stroke. We aimed at investigating the association of SVD with cerebral LAA as well as with atherosclerosis in patients with stroke likely to originate from aortic plaques. Methods: We investigated 71 consecutive patients (48 men, mean age 64.2 ± 13 years) with ischemic stroke of undetermined cause according to the ASCO classification, who received ECG-triggered CT angiography for best available atherosclerotic plaque detection in the aorta. Results: Aortic atherosclerotic plaques were detected in 54 patients (76.1%). The presence of SVD significantly correlated with the presence of aortic plaques (p Conclusions: Aortic plaques are common in patients with stroke of undetermined cause. If so, SVD and LAA are often coexisting, which demonstrates the close link of macro- and microangiopathy, at least in cases of severe risk factors of atherosclerosis.
Chatzikonstantinou et al. (Sun,) conducted a cross-sectional in Ischemic stroke of undetermined cause (n=71). ECG-triggered CT angiography was evaluated on Association of small vessel disease with aortic plaques and large artery atherosclerosis (p=< 0.001). In patients with ischemic stroke of undetermined cause, the presence of small vessel disease significantly correlated with aortic plaques (detected in 76.1% of patients) and large artery atherosclerosis (p<0.001).