Investigation of cerebral hemodynamics and collateralization in asymptomatic carotid stenoses

Stroke is the second leading cause of death in the world, and one of the major causes of disability. Approximately 30% of ischemic strokes are due to plaque rupture in the carotid arteries. The most popular diagnostic method uses Doppler ultrasound to find the percent stenosis. However, other factors, such as the hemodynamics around the plaque may play a larger role in identifying the risk of plaque rupture. It has been shown previously in simulations that non-collateral flow in the circle of Willis (COW) could cause an increase of the intraluminal velocity around carotid plaque. This added strain may increase the vulnerability of the plaque to rupture. We investigated asymmetries in flow waveforms in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) in asymptomatic patients with carotid artery stenosis. We compared clinical results of velocity waveforms in the MCA, acquired using transcranial Doppler (TCD), with a simple linear simulation model of the intra- and extracranial arterial network to investigate the relationship between contralateral and ipsilateral flow profiles in the MCA for patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis. In 17 out of 23 patients we found waveforms consistent with those predicted for a collateralized COW, with minimal differences in delay, velocity magnitude and resistivity index. In 6 cases, some unexpected findings were noted, such as large delays for 2 patients ≤ 50% stenosis, and a large velocity difference with low delay for 4 patients. More studies are needed to elucidate the role of incomplete intracranial collateralization on the hemodynamics around carotid plaque and to use imaging of the COW to corroborate our results.