• Setareh Salehi Omran, Farid Khasiyev, Cen Zhang, Tatjana Rundek, Ralph L Sacco, Clinton B Wright, ElkindMitchell S VMSVDepartment of Neurology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, and Jose Gutierrez.
• Department of Neurology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, USA.
• J Neuroimaging. 2022 Jul 1; 32 (4): 735743735-743.

Background And PurposeIn patients with dolichoectasia, it is uncertain how dilatation and/or elongation relate to each other. We aimed to examine the correlation between arterial diameter and length within arteries and across the circle of Willis (COW).MethodsWe included stroke-free participants in the Northern Manhattan Study who underwent magnetic resonance angiography. Intracranial artery diameters and lengths were obtained with semiautomated commercial software and were adjusted for head size. We first investigated the correlation between diameters and length using Pearson's correlation coefficient. We then built generalized linear models adjusted for demographics and risk factors.ResultsAmong 1210 participants included in the analysis (mean age 71 ± 9 years, 59% women, 65% Hispanic), a larger basilar artery (BA) diameter correlated with greater BA length (r = .3), and left and right middle cerebral artery (MCA) diameters correlated with one another (r = .4). Across the COW, BA diameter correlated with MCA diameters (r = .3 for both). In adjusted analyses, MCA diameters were associated with larger posterior circulation diameters (β = 0.07), MCA and BA lengths (β = 0.003 and β = 0.002, respectively), presence of fetal posterior cerebral artery (PCA), (β = 0.11), and a complete COW (β = -0.02). Similarly, BA length was associated with a fetal PCA (β = 1.1), and BA diameter was associated with anterior circulation diameters (β = 0.15) and presence of fetal PCA (β = -0.4).ConclusionsCOW configuration should be considered when using arterial diameter cutoffs to define dolichoectasia. Further studies are needed to discern whether arterial diameter or length best identify individuals at risk of vascular events attributable to dolichoectasia.© 2022 American Society of Neuroimaging.

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