Regression of Plaque Enhancement Within Symptomatic Middle Cerebral Artery Atherosclerosis: A High-Resolution MRI Study

Frontiers in Neurology

Xiang-Yan Chen¹  Jill Abrigo²  Winnie Chiu-Wing Chu²  Simon Wong²  Yannie Oi-Yan Soo³  Thomas Wai-Hong Leung³  Ka-Sing Wong³  Wen-Jie Yang⁴ 

[1] Department of Health Technology and Informatics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, China;Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, China;Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, China;The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States;

关键词: intracranial atherosclerosis;    magnetic resonance imaging;    stroke;    inflammation;    middle cerebral artery;    plaque enhancement;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2020.00755

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Objective: Contrast enhancement is a vital feature of the intracranial atherosclerotic plaque on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI), but its clinical significance is still unclear. We aimed to quantitatively assess plaque enhancement patterns in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) atherosclerotic plaque.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study by prospectively recruiting stroke or transient ischemic attack patients with >30% of MCA stenosis of either side. All patients underwent contrast-enhanced HRMRI scans. Enrolled patients were classified into acute phase (<4 weeks), subacute phase (4–12 weeks) and chronic phase (>12 weeks) groups based on the time interval from stroke onset to imaging scan. Plaque enhancement index was calculated for each MCA lesion at the maximal narrowing site.Results: We identified a total of 89 MCA plaques [53 (60%) symptomatic and 36 (40%) asymptomatic; 57 (64%) acute, 18 (20%) subacute and 14 (16%) chronic] in 58 patients on HRMRI. Among the acute lesions, symptomatic plaques had a significantly stronger plaque enhancement than asymptomatic plaques (symptomatic vs. asymptomatic: 38.9 ± 18.2 vs. 18.2 ± 16.2, p < 0.001). Among the symptomatic lesions, plaque enhancement diminished with increasing time after stroke onset (38.9 ± 18.2, 22.0 ± 22.8, and 5.0 ± 10.1 for acute, subacute, and chronic phase, respectively; p = 0.001).Conclusion: Plaque enhancement in the acute atherosclerotic plaque is closely related to recent ischemic events. In symptomatic atherosclerosis, plaque enhancement regresses over time after ischemic stroke, which may offer the potential to monitor the plaque activity in intracranial atherosclerosis using HRMRI.

【 授权许可】

Unknown