Correlation between ipsilateral prominent posterior cerebral artery laterality and white matter hyperintensity in patients with severe internal carotid artery stenosis

Abstract

Objective To investigate the correlation between ipsilateral prominent posterior cerebral artery laterality (PCAL) and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in patients with severe internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis. Methods From April 2016 to December 2017, patients with unilateral ICA stenosis ≥70% (including occlusion) and contralateral ICA stenosis <50% or no stenosis admitted to the Department of Neurology, Liaoning Provincial People's Hospital were enrolled. According to the presence or absence of PCAL on the ipsilateral side of ICA stenosis, they were divided into positive group and negative group, and the severity of WMHs was compared between the 2 groups. The patients were grouped according to the severity of overall WMHs and deep WMHs (DWMHs) and periventricular WMHs (PWMHs) on the ipsilateral side of ICA stenosis. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the independently relevant factors of WMHs. Results A total of 131 patients were enrolled, 65 of them (49.62%) had ipsilateral PCAL positive. The proportion of severe DWMHs in this group was significantly lower than that in the ipsilateral PCAL negative group (38.46% vs. 59.09%; χ2=5.578, P=0.018). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that advanced age (odds ratio [OR] 2.196, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.278-3.773; P=0.004), hypertension (OR 3.279, 95% CI 1.107-9.709; P=0.032), and high systolic blood pressure (OR 1.027, 95% CI 1.002-1.053; P=0.031) were independently associated with severe overall WMHs; advanced age (OR 1.957, 95% CI 1.141-3.358; P=0.015) and hypertension (OR 4.739, 95% CI 1.570-14.286; P=0.006) were independently correlated with ipsilateral severe DWMHs, ipsilateral PCAL (OR 0.340, 95% CI 0.135-0.856; P=0.022) was independently correlated with ipsilateral mild DWMHs; advanced age (OR 1.805, 95% CI 1.175-2.775; P=0.007) and high systolic blood pressure (OR 1.030, 95% CI 1.007-1.053; P=0.010) were independently correlated with ipsilateral severe PWMHs. Conclusion Ipsilateral PCAL is an independent protective factor for ipsilateral DWMHs in patients with severe ICA stenosis. Key words: Carotid stenosis; Carotid artery, internal; Posterior cerebral artery; White matter; Magnetic resonance angiography; Magnetic resonance imaging; Risk factors