Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
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J Cardiovasc Magn Reson · Dec 2016
Co-existing intracranial and extracranial carotid artery atherosclerotic plaques and recurrent stroke risk: a three-dimensional multicontrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance study.
As a systemic disease, atherosclerosis commonly affects intracranial and extracranial carotid arteries simultaneously which is defined as co-existing plaques. Previous studies demonstrated that co-existing atherosclerotic diseases are significantly associated with ischemic cerebrovascular events. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of co-existing intracranial and extracranial carotid atherosclerotic plaques and their relationships with recurrent stroke by using 3D multi-contrast magnetic resonance (MR) vessel wall imaging. ⋯ Co-existing intracranial and extracranial carotid artery plaques are prevalent in symptomatic patients and the number of co-existing plaques is independently associated with the risk of recurrent stroke.