Dolichoectasia and the risk of stroke and vascular disease: a critical appraisal

Dolichoectasia (DE) in cerebral arteries is a poorly understood arteriopathy that has been associated with increased risk of vascular morbidity and mortality. Dolichoectasia tends to affects older individuals with vascular risk factors, but it can also be secondary to specific conditions related with extracellular matrix health. The range of methods used to study DE and the biases inherent to hospital-based samples weaken the generalizability of DE study results to the general population. Within the context of these limitations, there is growing evidence that DE is a serious condition that can increase the risk of vascular death. Recurrent strokes and compressive symptoms are among the major causes of morbidity, but cardiac ischemic disease and aortic aneurysms are not uncommon in populations with DE. The devastating outcomes of patients with DE are a call to action aimed at improving the quality of research on the topic and discovering therapies that can palliate the burden of DE in the population.