title: Prevalence of symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis in Caucasians: a prospective, multicenter, transcranial Doppler study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are limited data available regarding symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis (SIA) prevalence in Caucasians. We sought to investigate SIA prevalence among Caucasian patients hospitalized with acute cerebral ischemia (ACI) in a prospective, multicenter Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Consecutive patients with ACI were prospectively evaluated with TCD over a 24-month-period. The previously validated criteria of SONIA trial were used for detection of >50% intracranial stenosis with TCD. Brain angiography was performed to confirm the diagnosis in cases with abnormal TCD findings. SIA was diagnosed when there was evidence of a cerebral infarction in the territory of the stenotic artery (identified by TCD and confirmed by Magnetic resonance angiography [MRA]/Computed tomography angiography [CTA]).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 467 consecutive patients with ACI (60.4% men, mean age 58 ± 14 years) were evaluated. SIA was documented in 43 patients (9.2%; 95%CI: 6.9%-12.2%). The most common SIA location was M1MCA (34.9%) followed by TICA (18.8%). Diabetes mellitus (OR: 4.25, 95%CI: 2.18-8.26; P < .001) and hypertension (OR: 2.41, 95%CI: 1.02-5.67; P = .045) were independently associated with SIA on multivariate models adjusting for potential confounders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SIA was identified in almost 10% of patients admitted with symptoms of ACI. These preliminary findings support further collaborative initiatives among stroke physicians to increase the yield of SIA detection in Caucasian patients with ACI.
authors: Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece; Second Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Attikon Hospital, Athens, Greece.
authors: Georgios
authors: G
authors: Tsivgoulis
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Vadikolias
authors: Ioannis
authors: I
authors: Heliopoulos
authors: Chaido
authors: C
authors: Katsibari
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Voumvourakis
authors: Soultana
authors: S
authors: Tsakaldimi
authors: Eleni
authors: E
authors: Boutati
authors: Spyros N
authors: SN
authors: Vasdekis
authors: Dimitrios
authors: D
authors: Athanasiadis
authors: Omar S
authors: OS
authors: Al-Attas
authors: Paris
authors: P
authors: Charalampidis
authors: Elefterios
authors: E
authors: Stamboulis
authors: Charitomeni
authors: C
authors: Piperidou
mesh_terms: D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology*; D015984:Causality; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000208:ethnology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D063189:Symptom Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017585:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Transcranial / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*