title: Calcifications of vertebrobasilar arteries on CT: detailed distribution and relation to risk factors in 245 ischemic stroke patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Intracranial atherosclerosis is responsible for a substantial proportion of strokes worldwide but its detailed morphology in the vertebrobasilar arteries (VBA) is unknown.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cases with ischemic strokes were retrospectively sought from the hospital database. Native CT scans were assessed for vessel area and intracranial artery calcifications (ICACs) in VBA. The calcifications were classified as focal (FCs), crescent, and circular.
  
  
  RESULTS
  245 patients (mean age: 77.1 ± 10.2 years, 57.6% females) had visible ICACs. Calcifications were found in 75.9%, 63.3%, and 17.1% in the left vertebral artery (LVA), the right vertebral artery (RVA), and the basilar artery (BA), respectively. FCs were present in 91.0%, 90.3%, and 100.0%; crescents in 30.3%, 29.0%, and 7.1%, and circulars in 6.4%, 4.8%, and 0.0% ) and 46 (27.4%) for RVA and LVA, respectively. Risk factors associated with vertical dispersion of ICACs were male gender (OR : 2.69, 1.38-5.28) and diabetes of the RVA, LVA, and BA, respectively. FCs in dorsolateral quadrant were least prevalent in both vertebral arteries (VAs): 46 (29.8%(OR : 2.28, 1.04-4.99).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FCs in VAs are least prevalent in dorsolateral quadrants. The vertical dispersion of ICACs seems to be associated with the male gender and diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University Medical Centre Maribor, Ljubljanska Cesta 5, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia. spikija@gmail.com
authors.forename: Slaven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pikija
authors.forename: Jožef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magdič
authors.forename: Tanja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hojs-Fabjan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D020521:Stroke; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000473:pathology*