Abstract #2676

Cai J, Ma L, Li X, Sun W, Lou X, An N

Atherosclerotic disease of the carotid artery is responsible for 20%~30% of all strokes, infarcts or hypoperfusion can occur in the arteries territories as well as cortical or/and internal watershed (WS). Two distinct hypotheses, namely low-flow and micro-embolism, are equally supported by neuropathological studies and remain controversial. We compared the cerebral perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) of stable with unstable carotid atherosclerotic plaque groups in determining the association of plaque type with hemodynamic change of 30 patients with unilateral severe ICA stenosis. The mean transit time (MTT) ratios of the cortical WS were prolonged significantly in unstable group compared to the stable group. Our preliminary results reveal that the cortical WS infarction maybe due to the microemboli arising from unstable carotid plaque.