[PP.29.26] AORTIC STIFFNESS IS INDEPENDENTLY RELATED TO INTRACRANIAL ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN PATIENTS WITH ISCHEMIC STROKE

Objective: Intracranial atherosclerotis (ICS) causes 10–29% of brain ischemic events. Traditional risk factors associated with intracranial stenosis include hypertension, smoking, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia. Whether newly emerging vascular risk factors, including central blood pressure and arterial stiffness, are related to intracranial atherosclerosis in patient after ischemic stroke is unknown. Design and method: We enrolled 76 patients (48 males, age 63.1 ± 12.4 years, mean ± SD) with acute ischemic stroke (NIHSS score at admission 6.7 ± 5.3 points). Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (CF-PWV), central and peripheral systolic blood pressure (SBP) and central augmentation index (cAIx) were measured (SphygmoCor®) within several (6 ± 2) days after stroke onset. Non-enhanced computed tomography was performed within 24 hours after stroke onset, and ICS was quantified by arterial calcification of the intracranial carotid artery (ICAC) in the bone window images. High-grade ICS was determined as the ICAC score above the median; low-grade ICS was determined as the ICAC score below the median and was regarded as a reference group. Data were analyzed with multivariate logistic regression. Results: CF-PWV was higher in patients with high-grade carotid siphon calcification than in patients of the reference group (11.5 ± 3.1 vs. 9.2 ± 2.4 m/s, P = 0.001). Moreover, CF-PWV was related to high-grade ICS with an odds ratio of 1.31 [95% CI, 1.04–1.65, p = 0.02] independently of age, sex, peripheral and central SBP. By contrast, cAIx and both central and peripheral BP parameters were not associated with high-grade ICS. Conclusions: Increased aortic stiffness, but not blood pressure, is independently associated with intracranial carotid atherosclerosis in patients with acute ischemic stroke.