[Atherosclerotic stenosis of intracranial and extracranial cerebral arteries in patients with cerebral infarction and the correlative factors].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution of atherosclerotic stenosis of cerebral arteries in Chinese patients suffered from cerebral infarction, and to determine if there are any factors correlating with intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis. METHODS: For this study, we enrolled 428 consecutive in-patients with cerebral infarction, All patients were examined with transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD) and carotid duplex ultrasound to detect atherosclerotic lesions in intracranial and extracranial cerebral arteries, some also were examined by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and/or digital subtraction angiography (DSA), they were all diagnosed as atherosclerotic cerebral artery stenosis. The patients were divided into three groups according to the different location of lesions, the frequency of risk factors of atherosclerosis and the demographic parameters were compared among these groups. RESULTS: 199 cases (46.5%) had only intracranial artery stenosis, 129 cases (30.1%) had only extracranial artery stenosis, 100 cases (23.4%) had both intracranial and extracranial stenosis (combine group). Compared with the other two groups, the levels of total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol of the intracranial artery group are both significantly higher (TC: P(1) = 0.001, P(2) = 0.000; LDL-C: P(1) = 0.004, P(2) = 0.039), the combine group had a significant higher ratio of male than that of the intracranial artery group(P = 0.003), there were no any other atherosclerosis risk factors had association with the location of cerebral artery stenosis. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of stenosis in intracranial arteries is more frequent than that in extracranial arteries in Chinese patients with cerebral infarction, and the lipid level is higher in the intracranial artery group, most risk factors of atherosclerosis may not be major determinants of location for cerebral atherosclerosis.