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The distribution of cerebral microbleeds determines their association with arterial stiffness in non‐cardioembolic acute stroke patients
Author(s) -
Song T.J.,
Kim J.,
Kim Y. D.,
Nam H. S.,
Lee H. S.,
Nam C. M.,
Heo J. H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/ene.12332
Subject(s) - medicine , arterial stiffness , cardiology , pulse wave velocity , cosmic microwave background , leukoaraiosis , logistic regression , hyperintensity , radiology , magnetic resonance imaging , blood pressure , physics , anisotropy , quantum mechanics
Background and purpose Increased arterial stiffness causes vessel damage in the end‐organs. Therefore small vessels in the brain may be susceptible to increased arterial stiffness. Cerebral microbleeds ( CMB s) are topographically or pathophysiologically categorized as deep or infratentorial type and strictly lobar type. Whether the presence and location of CMB s are associated with brachial‐ankle pulse wave velocity (ba PWV ) which represents a measure of arterial stiffness was investigated. Methods Between June 2006 and January 2012, 1137 consecutive patients diagnosed with non‐cardioembolic acute ischaemic stroke and who underwent ba PWV measurement and brain gradient‐echo imaging were enrolled. CMB s were classified as deep or infratentorial or strictly lobar according to their location. Severity of leukoaraiosis was determined using the F azekas scoring system. Results CMB s were found in 30.7% of the included patients. These patients were older than those without CMB s. Mean ba PWV was higher in patients with CMB s than in those without (20 ± 5 m/s vs. 19 ± 5 m/s; P = 0.001). When comparing ba PWV according to the location of the CMB , it was higher in the deep or infratentorial CMB group than in the strictly lobar CMB group (22 ± 5 m/s vs. 20 ± 5 m/s; P = 0.001). In univariate and multivariate multinomial logistic regression analyses, ba PWV was found to be independently associated with deep or infratentorial CMB s. Conclusions Arterial stiffness was independently associated with deep or infratentorial CMB s but not lobar CMB s. These findings suggest a pathophysiological association between arterial stiffness and CMB s in the deep or infratentorial region.