Abstract TP563: White Matter Hyperintensities are Associated With Intracranial Internal Carotid Artery Calcifications in a Cohort of Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack

Introduction: Previous studies of the relationship between cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) lesions and carotid artery (CA) calcifications have yielded conflicting results. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that intracranial ICA (ICICA) calcifications are most closely associated with CSVD in comparison to extracranial ICA (ECICA) and common CA (CCA) calcifications. Methods: Acute ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack patients were recruited into a hospital-based prospective stroke registry. Total CSVD burden score including white matter hyperintensity (WMH), lacunes, microbleeds (MBs) and enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS) was measured according to Staals et al. Fazekas scale was used to rate the periventricular and deep WMH (PVMH and DWMH respectively). ICICA calcifications were measured on plain head CT scan according to Subedi et al. ECICA and CCA calcifications were measured according to Yamada et al on the neck CT angiography. Univariate analyses were used to test the relationship between CSVD lesions and CA calcifications. Binary and ordered logistic regression analyses were performed to adjust for the effect of age, sex, race, history of hypertension, diabetes and current smoking for the variables that showed significance in the univariate analyses. Results: 141 patients (age 64.5±15.3, 49% females, total CSVD score 1.6±1.4, ICICA, ECICA and CCA calcification scores were 7.8±9.9, 10.3±13.4 and 2.1±6.9, respectively). In Univariate analyses, ICICA calcification score showed significant relationships with PVMH, DWMH, lacunes, MBs and total CSVD scores ( P values: Conclusions: ICICA calcifications are most closely linked to PVMW and DWMH. Further studies are required to investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms behind this relationship.