Xihai Zhao1,
Rui Li1, Jinnan Wang2, Le He1, Zechen Zhou1,
Xiping Gong3, Donghua Mi3, Xingquan Zhao3,
Chun Yuan1, 4
1Center
for Biomecial Imaging research & Department of Biomedical Engineering,
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; 22.Philips Research North
America, Briarcliff Manor, NY, United States; 3Department of
Neurology, Tiantan Hospital, Capical Medical University, Beijing, China; 4Department
of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
Angiography studies have shown that intracranial and extracranial concomitant atherosclerotic diseases are common in stroke patients. However, stenosis-based approaches underestimate disease severity due to the phenomenon of positive remodeling. Recently proposed 3D vessel wall imaging sequences, such as MERGE, VISTA, and SNAP, may have the potential to perform comprehensive imaging for detection of concomitant plaques at intracranial and extracranial circulations. This study sought to assess neurovascular concomitant atherosclerosis using 3D multicontrast black-blood imaging sequences in symptomatic patients. We found that stroke patients frequently developed concomitant intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis much more commonly than literature reports (74.1% vs. 43%).