Distribution of cerebral artery stenosis in patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease

Objective To investigate the characteristics of distribution of cerebral artery stenosis in patients with atherosclerotic ischemic cerebrovascular disease.Methods 171 of 196 adult patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease confirmed by angiography had cerebral artery stenosis, and were divided into the young-aged group(18～44 years), middle-aged group(45～59 years) and old-aged group(≥60 years). The characteristics of distribution of cerebral artery stenosis with age were analyzed.Results The frequency of stenosis of intracranial artery (80.7%)was higher than that of extracranial artery (56.1%) in 171 patients with cerebral artery stenosis. In young-aged group, the proportion of simplex intracranial artery stenosis was high,and middle cerebral artery was affected frequently. In middle-aged group and old-aged group, the proportion of coexistence of intracranial and extracranial artery stenosis was high. The number of extracranial artery stenosis increased with age(P0.001).Conclusions The incidence of stenosis of intracranial artery is higher than that of extracranial artery in 171 patients with cerebral artery stenosis and middle cerebral artery is prone to be affected in young patients. The distribution of cerebral artery stenosis varies with age.