Culprit plaques of large parent arteries, rather than cerebral small vessel disease, contribute to early neurological deterioration in stroke patients with intracranial branch atheromatous disease.

INTRODUCTION: Intracranial branch atheromatous disease (BAD) has been applied to occlusions that occur at the origin of large caliber penetrating arteries due to the microatheromas or large parent artery plaques. This study aimed to explore the association between culprit plaques of large parent arteries, neuroimaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), and the risk of early neurological deterioration (END) in stroke patients with BAD.

METHODS: A total of 97 stroke patients with BAD in the vascular territories of the lenticulostriate arteries or paramedian pontine arteries, diagnosed using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI), were prospectively recruited in this observational study. A culprit plaque in the middle cerebral artery was defined as the only arterial plaque on the ipsilateral side of an infarction visible on diffusion-weighted imaging. A culprit plaque in the basilar artery (BA) was identified when it was observed within the same axial slices of an infarction or on the adjacent upper or lower slice, whereas a plaque within the BA located in the ventral region was considered non-culprit. If more than one plaque was present in the same vascular territory, the most stenotic plaque was chosen for the analysis. Four CSVD neuroimaging markers, including white matter hyperintensity (WMH), lacunes, microbleeds, and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS), were evaluated in accordance with the total CSVD score. The associations between neuroimaging features of lesions within large parent arteries, neuroimaging markers of CSVD, and the risk of END in stroke patients with BAD were investigated using logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS: END occurred in 41 stroke patients (42.27%) with BAD. The degree of large parent artery stenosis (P<0.001), culprit plaques of large parent arteries (P<0.001), and plaque burden (P<0.001) were significantly different between the END and non-END groups in stroke patients with BAD. In logistic regression analysis, culprit plaques of large parent arteries (OR, 32.258; 95% CI, 4.140-251.346) were independently associated with the risk of END in stroke patients with BAD.

CONCLUSIONS: Culprit plaques of large parent arteries could predict the risk of END in stroke patients with BAD. These results suggest that lesions in the large parent arteries, rather than damage to the cerebral small vessels, contribute to END in stroke patients with BAD.