Studies on intracranial collateral circulation with multi-slice CT angiography in patients with symptomatic cerebral artery stenosis

Objective To explore the features of intracranial collateral circulation in patients with symptomatic cerebral artery stenosis.Method Ninety-four patients with ischemic cerebrovascular disease admitted from Apr.2004 to Jun.2009 were involved in present study.All the patients were examined with cerebral multi-slice CT angiography,and the features of cerebral artery stenosis and intracranial collateral circulation were evaluated using maximum intensity projection(MIP) and volume rendering(VR) images of CT angiography.Result Of the 94 patients involved,48 were diagnosed as cerebral artery stenosis,including 29 cases of cerebral infarction,18 of transient ischemic attack(TIA) and 1 of moyamoya disease(MMD).Among the 14 cases of severe cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion,cerebral infarction was found in 6 cases with lesser intracranial collateral vessels(including massive cerebral infarction in 4 cases and watershed infarction in 2 cases),and focal infarction of central semi-ovale in 1 case and TIA in 7 cases were found with abundant intracranial collateral vessels.Multiple lacunar infarction was found in 22 cases of mild or moderate cerebral artery stenosis,but there was no significant correlation between the stenosed arteries and infarction sites.Abundant intracranial collateral vessels were found in one patient with Moyamoya disease but no infarction was observed.Conclusions Intracranial collateral circulation plays an important role of compensation in patients with severe cerebral artery stenosis or occlusion.Cerebral angiography with multi-slice CT is of great significance in evaluation of cerebral artery stenosis and intracranial collateral circulation.