Association between carotid artery perivascular fat density and cerebral small vessel disease

Abstract

Studies aiming to identify the significance of the carotid artery perivascular fat density are limited. The present study investigated the distribution pattern of pericarotid fat and its association with imaging markers of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). In total, 572 subjects who underwent both neck computed tomography angiography and cranial magnetic resonance imaging were analyzed. The pericarotid fat density near the origin of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and imaging markers of CSVD, such as lacunes, white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and dilated perivascular spaces (PVSs), were assessed. We found that an increased pericarotid fat density was associated with the presence of lacunes and a higher WMH grade in all subjects, but in the patients with acute ischemic stroke, there was a difference only among the WMH grades. There was no significant difference in the pericarotid fat density in different grades of PVSs. The patients with acute ischemic stroke had a significantly higher mean pericarotid fat density than those without stroke. In conclusion, our study provides evidence suggesting that an increased pericarotid fat density is associated with the presence and degree of WMHs and lacunes. Our findings suggested that features that appear to extend beyond the vessel lumen of the ICA may be linked to CSVD.

Perfusion heterogeneity of cerebral small vessel disease revealed via arterial spin labeling MRI and machine learning

“…Lacunes and WMH are two common MRI markers of CSVD patients ( Xin et al, 2019 ). Zhang et al have reported that an increased pericarotid fat density is associated with the presence of lacunes, and may be linked to CSVD ( Zhang et al, 2021 ). A previous cross-sectional study has provided evidence which linked lacunes and WMHs to a common pathogenesis of CSVD ( Yu et al, 2021 ).…”

Carotid Artery Perivascular Adipose Tissue Density and Response to Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator in Acute Ischemic Stroke

“…30 In the brain, CAPATd has been associated with the presence and burden of small vessel disease. 31 Small vessel disease is also thought to be associated with increased thrombolytic resistance and bleeding. 32 Furthermore, CAPATd is high in diabetes and metabolic syndrome, possibly correlated with control status for these diseases.…”

Associations between preprocedural carotid artery perivascular fat density and early in-stent restenosis after carotid artery stenting

“…Each patient's vascular risk factors were also collected, including their hypertension history (blood pressure >140/90 mmHg on admission or previous medical records) [ 11 ], and diabetes mellitus (hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥ 6.5% or on diabetic medications). Vascular risk factors also include dyslipidemia (serum triglycerides >1.7 mmol/L, low-density lipoprotein >3.4 mmol/L, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol <0.8 mmol/L, or on statins) [ 19 ], current smoking (smoking ≥1 cigarette per day for more than 6 months continuously), and coronary artery disease (history of the previous diagnosis).…”