Enhancement of the intracranial arterial wall at MR imaging: relationship to cerebral atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between intracranial arterial wall enhancement and atherosclerosis.


METHODS
Intracranial vertebral arteries of 30 patients and carotid arteries of 62 patients were studied with spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging with contrast enhancement and spatial presaturation. Arterial wall enhancement was graded as follows: stage 1, no substantial enhancement; stage 2, faint or thin area of enhancement; stage 3, definite and thick area of enhancement.


RESULTS
In vertebral arteries, stage 3 enhancement was seen in 11 patients (mean age, 73.7 years) and stage 1 in eight (mean age, 56.4 years). In carotid arteries, stage 3 enhancement was seen in 13 patients (mean age, 71.0 years) and stage 1 in 21 patients (mean age, 39.0 years). In both arteries, stage was well correlated with age (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Arterial wall enhancement is related to aging and is probably due to neovascularity in association with atherosclerotic plaques. This finding may permit assessment of intracranial atherosclerosis and other vascular diseases.
Aoki
S
S
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Shirouzu
I
I
Sasaki
Y
Y
Okubo
T
T
Hayashi
N
N
Machida
T
T
Hoshi
E
E
Suzuki
K
K
Funada
N
N
Araki
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000473:pathology