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Background and Purpose: Dolichoectasia (DE) is a vasculopathy that consists of abnormal elongation and dilatation of arteries. The objective of this study is to evaluate the frequency of DE in an unselected population and assess different diagnostic methods., Methods: The Northern Manhattan Study is a multiethnic population based cohort of stroke-free participants. The definition proposed for DE was total cranial volume (TCV)-adjusted arterial diameter ≥2 SD. Other methods studied included visual assessment, unadjusted arterial diameters cutoff, Smoker's criteria and basilar artery (BA) volume., Results: A total of 718 subjects were included in the analysis (mean age 71.6 ± 8.0 years, 40% men, 61% Hispanic). Using the TCV-adjusted DE definition, 19% of the sample had at least one dolichoectatic artery. In 7% of the subjects, two or more arteries were affected. The BA was the most common dolichoectatic artery. Reproducibility for arterial diameter measurements was good to excellent (.70-.95), while for visual assessment ranged from fair to good (.49-.79)., Conclusions: A TCV-adjusted intracranial arterial diameter ≥2 SD is proposed as a useful DE definition. The variability in the prevalence of DE depending on the methods used underscores the need to agree on a reliable, universal definition of DE., (Copyright © 2013 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.)

Background and Purpose: Perivascular spaces are potential spaces found between brain blood vessels and surrounding leptomeninges that have been associated with cardiovascular risk factors and dementia, but less is known about their relationship to atherosclerosis. We tested the hypothesis that perivascular spaces are associated with atherosclerosis., Materials and Methods: Participants from the Northern Manhattan Study who remained stroke-free were invited to participate in an MR imaging substudy. Parenchymal hypointensities of <3 mm identified on brain axial T1-weighted MR imaging were scored as perivascular spaces. A semiquantitative score was created to express the degree of brain involvement. Generalized linear models were used to assess statistical associations with carotid plaque as a surrogate marker of atherosclerosis., Results: The studied sample included 706 participants (mean age, 72.6 ± 8.0 years; 60% women, 61% Hispanic, 68% with hypertension, 19% with diabetes, and 57% with high cholesterol). The perivascular spaces score ranged from 0 to 19 with 52% of the sample having a perivascular spaces score of ≤4. In unadjusted analysis, perivascular spaces were associated with age (β = 0.01 per year, P = < .001), non-Hispanic black race-ethnicity (β = 0.16, P = .02), hypertension (β = 0.24, P = < .001), and carotid plaque (β = 0.22, P < .001). In multivariable analysis, only age (β = 0.01, P = .02), hypertension (β = 0.17, P = .01), and carotid plaque (β = 0.22, P = < .001) remained independently associated with perivascular spaces., Conclusions: Perivascular spaces were more frequently found in older participants, in those with hypertension, and in the presence of carotid plaque. These results suggest that mechanisms leading to atherosclerosis might also lead to an increased number of perivascular spaces. These results need confirmation in prospective studies.