Intracranial internal carotid artery calcification: a representative for cerebral artery calcification and association with white matter hyperintensities.
BACKGROUND
Our aim was to investigate the distribution pattern of cerebral artery calcification and its association with white matter hyperintensities (WMH).


METHODS
We identified 159 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke. Calcifications of cerebral arteries and WMH were graded.


RESULTS
Cerebral artery calcification was found in 137 patients (86.2%). The intracranial internal carotid artery (I-ICA) was the most frequently affected artery with calcification (76.7%) and moderate-to-severe calcification (38.1%). Spearman's rank test revealed that the grade of I-ICA calcification was correlated with those of periventricular WMH (r = 0.417, p < 0.001) and deep WMH (r = 0.388, p < 0.001). The adjusted ORs of I-ICA were 2.62 (p <0.05) for periventricular WMH and 3.25 (p <0.05) for deep WMH.


CONCLUSIONS
Cerebral artery calcification is common in patients with ischemic stroke. I-ICA is the most frequently and most severely affected cerebral artery and its calcification is associated with WMH.
Chung
Pil-Wook
PW
Department of Neurology, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Park
Kwang-Yeol
KY
Moon
Heui-Soo
HS
Kim
Yong-Bum
YB
Youn
Young Chul
YC
Byun
Jun Soo
JS
Kwon
Oh-Sang
OS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002343:Carotid Artery, Internal / Q000473:pathology*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography / Q000379:methods; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed