Higher Plaque Burden of Middle Cerebral Artery Is Associated With Recurrent Ischemic Stroke

Useless, you don't tell us the protocol we should be asking our doctors to test with.  And you don't tell us how to reduce that plaque burden. 

I suppose you could train your doctor in these methods:

Treatments for clogged arteries - lawnmower, drano or conventional?  

Watermelon juice reverses hardening of the arteries Nov. 2011

At Last! A Vitamin That Can Make Your Blood Vessels Younger May 2018 

New study shows aged garlic extract can reduce dangerous plaque buildup in arteries  Jan. 2016 

 

Pomegranate juice consumption for 3 years by patients with carotid artery stenosis reduces common carotid intima-media thickness, blood pressure and LDL oxidation  June 2004 

 

Regular coffee drinkers have 'cleaner' arteries March 2015

 

Mediterranean-style diet improves systolic blood pressure and arterial stiffness in older adults: Results of a 1-year European multi-center trial

 

The latest here:

Higher Plaque Burden of Middle Cerebral Artery Is Associated With Recurrent Ischemic Stroke

A Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Yuncai Ran

,

Yuting Wang

,

Ming Zhu

,

Xiao Wu

,

Ajay Malhotra

,

Xiaowen Lei

,

Feifei Zhang

,

Xiao Wang

,

Shanshan Xie

,

Jian Zhou

,

Jinxia Zhu

,

Jingliang Cheng

,

Chengcheng Zhu

Originally published20 Dec 2019https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.028405Stroke. ;0:STROKEAHA.119.028405

Abstract

Background and Purpose—

This study aims to investigate the association between the characteristics of atherosclerotic plaques of middle cerebral artery and recurrent ischemic stroke using magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging.

Methods—

One hundred and five patients with ischemic stroke attributed to middle cerebral artery plaque underwent high-resolution black-blood magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging. They were divided into group 1, with the first episode of acute stroke (imaging within 4 weeks of stroke, n=44); group 2, with recurrent acute stroke (n=29); and group 3, with chronic stroke (imaging after 3 months of stroke, n=32). Plaque characteristics including plaque area, plaque burden, contrast-enhancement ratio, eccentricity, and degree of stenosis were measured and compared across 3 groups. Association between plaque characteristics and recurrent strokes was investigated by multivariate analysis.

Results—

Plaque burden was significantly greater in recurrent stroke group than the other 2 groups (median: group 2, 82.7%, versus group 1, 76.3%, and group 3, 73.4%; P=0.001). Patients with acute stroke had higher enhancement ratio than patients with chronic stroke (median: group 1, 1.59, and group 2, 1.90, versus group 3, 1.33; P=0.014). Comparing to first-onset acute stroke patients, recurrent stroke patients were older, more likely with female sex and hypertension, and had higher plaque burden. After adjustment of clinical factors, plaque burden was the only independent imaging feature associated with recurrent stroke (odds ratio, 2.26, per 10% increase [95% CI, 1.03–4.96]; P=0.042).

Conclusions—

Higher plaque burden of middle cerebral artery identified on magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging is independently associated with recurrent ischemic stroke.

Footnotes

*Drs Ran and Wang contributed equally.
The online-only Data Supplement is available with this article at https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.028405.

Correspondence to Jingliang Cheng, MD, PhD, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, 1st Construction of E Rd, Two Seven District, Zhengzhou 450052, China, Email fccchengjl@zzu.edu.cn

Yuting Wang, MD, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 2006 Xiyuan Ave, Gaoxin District (W), Chengdu 611731, China, Email wangyuting_330@163.com