Wen Jie Yang, Mark Fisher, Lu Zheng, Chun Bo Niu, Annlia Paganini-Hill, Hai Lu Zhao, Yun Xu, Ka Sing Wong, Ho Keung Ng, Xiang Yan Chen
Abstract
Anterior and posterior circulation atherosclerosis differ in vascular risk factors and stroke mechanisms. However, few studies have compared the pathological features between these lesions. Using a series of intracranial artery specimens, we characterized the intracranial atherosclerotic lesions and compared pathological features among different arteries of the intracranial vasculature.
Intracranial large arteries of 32 consecutively recruited autopsy cases of Chinese adults aged 45 years or older were examined pathologically using routine histology and immunostaining, to characterize the pathological features of the atherosclerotic lesions. We analyzed middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) (both left and right), vertebral arteries (VAs) (side more affected), and basilar arteries (BAs).
Progressive atherosclerotic lesions were present in 91(71%) of the 128 arteries examined. Features of complicated plaques were infrequently detected: plaque hemorrhage was encountered in 12%, neovasculature in 12%, lumen thrombi in 13%, macrophage infiltration in 20%, and calcification in 25% of arteries. Luminal narrowing of MCA was the most severe, followed by VA; the BA least stenotic (37 ± 25 vs. 30 ± 24 vs. 20 ± 20%, all p < 0.05). MCA had more eccentric (vs. concentric) plaques than VA (69 vs. 25%, p = 0.003) and BA (69 vs. 38%; p = 0.03). Lumen thrombi were more frequent in BA, and calcification most commonly occurred in VA atherosclerotic lesions.
Intracranial atherosclerotic plaques were commonly present in this sample, but the lesions generally lacked features of complicated plaques. MCA lesions had demonstrable differences compared with VA and BA lesions. Further studies are needed to determine whether these characteristics indicate a distinctive atherosclerotic phenotype for the intracranial vasculature.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 September 2017.
All research outputs
#20,448,386
of 23,003,906 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Neurology
#8,924
of 11,904 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#279,708
of 320,342 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Neurology
#152
of 202 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,003,906 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 11,904 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.3. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 320,342 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 202 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
