Department of Neurology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Atherosclerosis. 2011 Dec;219(2):887-91. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2011.09.013. Epub 2011 Sep 16.
Arterial stiffness is associated with cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis. Measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV) is one of the most representative and noninvasive techniques for assessing arterial stiffness. We investigated the association of cerebral atherosclerosis with brachial-ankle PWV (baPWV) in acute ischemic stroke patients. If present, we sought to determine whether the relationship differed between atherosclerosis in the intracranial artery and atherosclerosis in the extracranial artery.
We included 801 patients with acute ischemic stroke who had undergone angiographic study and baPWV measurement between January 2007 and May 2010. Patients with cerebral artery atherosclerosis were categorized into those with intracranial atherosclerosis, those with extracranial atherosclerosis and those with both intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis. We determined factors that were associated with baPWV.
Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that high baPWV was significantly associated with older age, lower body mass index, higher brachial systolic pressure, and diabetes mellitus. Increased baPWV was associated with the presence of atherosclerosis (≥ 50% stenosis) in the intracranial cerebral artery as well as in both the intracranial and extracranial arteries, but not with atherosclerosis in the extracranial cerebral artery. The burden of intracranial cerebral atherosclerosis, which was assessed based on the number of arteries with atherosclerosis, was also closely associated with baPWV.
Arterial stiffness was associated with the presence and burden of intracranial cerebral atherosclerosis in stroke patients, but was not associated with the extracranial cerebral atherosclerosis. These findings suggest a potential pathophysiological association between increased arterial stiffness and intracranial cerebral atherosclerosis.
动脉僵硬度与心血管危险因素和动脉粥样硬化有关。脉搏波速度（PWV）的测量是评估动脉僵硬度的最具代表性和非侵入性技术之一。我们研究了急性缺血性脑卒中患者脑动脉粥样硬化与肱踝 PWV（baPWV）之间的关系。如果存在，我们试图确定颅内动脉粥样硬化与颅外动脉粥样硬化之间的关系是否不同。
我们纳入了 2007 年 1 月至 2010 年 5 月期间接受血管造影研究和 baPWV 测量的 801 例急性缺血性脑卒中患者。将有脑动脉粥样硬化的患者分为颅内动脉粥样硬化、颅外动脉粥样硬化和颅内及颅外动脉粥样硬化。我们确定了与 baPWV 相关的因素。
单因素和多因素分析表明，高 baPWV 与年龄较大、体重指数较低、肱动脉收缩压较高和糖尿病有关。baPWV 的增加与颅内脑动脉以及颅内和颅外动脉的粥样硬化（≥50%狭窄）有关，但与颅外脑动脉的粥样硬化无关。基于存在粥样硬化的动脉数量评估的颅内脑动脉粥样硬化负担也与 baPWV 密切相关。
动脉僵硬度与脑卒中患者颅内脑动脉粥样硬化的存在和负担有关，但与颅外脑动脉粥样硬化无关。这些发现提示，动脉僵硬度增加与颅内脑动脉粥样硬化之间可能存在潜在的病理生理关联。
