Influence of fetal-type posterior cerebral artery in outcomes in patients with large artery atherosclerosis stroke

Abstract

Objective To explore the effect of fetal-type posterior cerebral artery (fPCA) on short-term outcomes and degrees of severity of acute large artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke. Methods A total of 689 patients with LAA stroke were consecutively collected from Nanjing Stroke Registry Program (August 2013 to December 2016) and stroke database of Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College (January 2017 to December 2017) according to the strict inclusion criteria. Patients were divided into fPCA group (n=185) and non-fPCA group (n=504) according to the results of 3D-time of flight-MR angiography and maximum intensity projection. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) was used to assess the degrees of severity of stroke and mild stroke was defined as NIHSS scores≤7. There-month modified Rankin scale (mRS) was used to evaluate the short-term stroke outcomes, and favorable functional outcome was defined as MRS score ≤1. The correlation between fPCA and LAA stroke was analyzed and the independent risk factors of LAA stroke were identified. Results There were no significant differences in gender, age, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia between fPCA group and non-fPCA group (P>0.05). Multivariable Logistic regression analysis showed that there was no significant association of fPCA with severity and short-term outcomes in patients with acute LAA stroke in either anterior or posterior circulation (P>0.05); however, age was an independent risk factor for severe stroke and unfavorable stroke outcome (P<0.05). Conclusion fPCA is a common variant of cerebral circulation, but has no significant influence in severity and short-term outcome of LAA stroke. Key words: Fetal-type posterior cerebral artery; Large artery atherosclerosis stroke; Stroke; Prognosis