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Updated: Aug 23, 2025
A Volumetric Method for Quantification of Cerebral Vasospasm in a Murine Model of Subarachnoid Hemorrhage
Published on: July 28, 2018
Association between Carotid Wall Shear Stress-Based Vascular Vector Flow Mapping and Cerebral Small Vessel Disease
Teppei Kamimura1, Shiro Aoki1, Tomohisa Nezu1
1Department of Clinical Neuroscience and Therapeutics, Hiroshima University Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.
Insights
Decreased carotid wall shear stress (WSS) is linked to early cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) imaging markers and cognitive decline, as measured by vector flow mapping (VFM). This suggests VFM can detect early SVD changes.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Neurology
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- Wall shear stress (WSS) is the frictional force of blood flow on vessel walls.
- Reduced WSS is implicated in vascular endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis.
- Vector flow mapping (VFM) uses echocardiography to assess blood flow direction and WSS.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate carotid artery WSS using VFM.
- To evaluate the association between carotid WSS and cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) imaging markers.
- To explore the relationship between carotid WSS and cognitive function in patients with acute lacunar infarction.
Main Methods:
- A single-center, prospective, observational study.
- 113 consecutive patients with acute lacunar infarction were included.
- Carotid WSS was measured using VFM, alongside SVD imaging and cognitive assessments.
Main Results:
- Carotid WSS showed a negative correlation with age.
- Lower WSS was significantly associated with higher total SVD scores, particularly enlarged perivascular space (EPVS) in the basal ganglia.
- Reduced WSS correlated with executive dysfunction.
Conclusions:
- Decreased carotid WSS, measurable via VFM, is associated with early SVD imaging changes like EPVS.
- These findings suggest WSS may serve as an early indicator of SVD.
- Reduced WSS is linked to cognitive impairment, specifically executive dysfunction, in early SVD stages.
Aim:
Wall shear stress (WSS) is the frictional force caused by viscous blood flowing along the vessel wall. Decreased WSS is associated with local vascular endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. The vector flow mapping (VFM) technique detects the direction of intracardiac blood flow and WSS on the vessel wall with echocardiography. In this study, we examined carotid WSS by applying the VFM technique to the carotid arteries and evaluated its relationship with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD).
Methods:
This is a single-center, prospective, observational study. We investigated the association between carotid WSS and SVD imaging, and cognitive outcomes in consecutive 113 patients with acute lacunar infarction.
Results:
Carotid WSS was negatively associated with age (r=-0.376, p＜0.001). Lower WSS was correlated with total SVD scores (ρ=-0.304, p=0.004), especially with enlarged perivascular space (EPVS) in the basal ganglia ＞10 (p＜0.001). The carotid intima-media thickness was not associated with the total SVD score (ρ=-0.183, p=0.052). Moreover, lower WSS was associated with executive dysfunction.
Conclusion:
EPVS has recently been reported as a marker of early SVD imaging, and executive dysfunction is common in vascular cognitive impairment. These results suggested that decreased carotid WSS based on vascular VFM, which can be measured easily, is associated with imaging and cognitive changes in the early stages of SVD.
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