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Basilar artery diameter is an independent predictor of incident cardiovascular events

Makiko Tanaka1, Manabu Sakaguchi, Kaori Miwa

  • 1Department of Neurology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan. makiko.rai@gmail.com

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
|May 11, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Increased basilar artery diameter, even within the normal range, is linked to cerebrovascular disease and predicts future cardiovascular events. This finding highlights a new risk factor for heart health.

Area of Science:

  • Neurovascular Medicine
  • Cardiovascular Epidemiology
  • Cerebral Small-Vessel Disease Research

Background:

  • Basilar artery (BA) dolichoectasia is known to associate with cerebral small-vessel disease and stroke.
  • The relationship between moderate BA dilation and cerebral small-vessel disease or subsequent cardiovascular events is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify factors associated with basilar artery diameter.
  • To determine if basilar artery diameter independently predicts cardiovascular events.

Main Methods:

  • 493 outpatients with atherosclerotic risk factors underwent MRI and magnetic resonance angiography.
  • Assessment included BA diameter, lacunar infarcts, white matter hyperintensities, and intracranial steno-occlusive lesions.
  • Prospective evaluation of cardiovascular events over a mean 6.0-year follow-up period.

Main Results:

  • Factors associated with BA diameter included male sex, lacunar infarcts, white matter hyperintensities, fetal-type circle of Willis variation, and intracranial steno-occlusive lesions.
  • Increased BA diameter was independently associated with total cardiovascular events (HR, 1.55 per 1 mm increase; P=0.009) after adjusting for confounders.
  • Only 0.8% of patients exhibited true BA dolichoectasia, indicating the study focused on moderate dilation within the normal range.

Conclusions:

  • Elevated basilar artery diameter, even within the normal range, correlates with both large and small cerebral vessel diseases.
  • Basilar artery diameter emerges as a potential novel predictor for cardiovascular events.
Abstract

Keywords:
atherosclerosiscardiovascular diseasescerebral small-vessel diseasemagnetic resonance imagingvertebrobasilar insufficiency

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