Correlation Between Intracranial Arterial Calcification and Imaging of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease

Conclusion: Intracranial artery calcification is common in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease and the intracranial carotid artery is most frequently affected. Intracranial arterial calcifications might be associated with imaging markers of SVD and are highly correlated with WMHs, lacunes, and CMBs. Quantification of calcification on CT provides additional information on the pathophysiology of SVD. Intracranial arterial calcification could act as a potential marker of SVD. Introduction Atherosclerosis is a systemic vascular process that is considered a major cause of cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease (1). Vascular calcification is part of the atherosclerotic process and may indicate severe stenosis (2). Atherosclerotic calcification occurs in the form of hydroxyapatite deposits that resemble bone mineralization (3). The more advanced stages consist of calcified plaques (1), which can be assessed non-invasively using computed tomography (CT) (4). The association between calcification in different arteries and vascular diseases has been examined previously (5). Vascular calcification on CT is a predictor of coronary heart disease (6) and is a potential marker for clinical stroke (7). Recent evidence suggests that the presence of intracranial arterial calcifications could independently predict the occurrence of a stroke in Caucasian and Asian individuals (2, 8). Despite arterial calcification usually occurring in the atherosclerotic large artery, it h...
Source: Frontiers in Neurology - Category: Neurology Source Type: research