Dolichoectasia and Small Vessel Disease in Young Patients With Transient Ischemic Attack and Stroke

Abstract

Background and Purpose—: We evaluated whether basilar dolichoectasia is associated with markers of cerebral small vessel disease in younger transient ischemic attack and ischemic stroke patients. Methods—: We used data from the SIFAP1 study (Stroke in Young Fabry Patients), a large prospective, hospital-based, screening study for Fabry disease in young (P =0.065; 29.1% versus 16.5% for old lesions, P P P =0.001). Microbleeds (16.3% versus 4.7%, P =0.001), higher grades of white matter hyperintensities ( P P for differences in TOAST ( P =0.018) were more often present in patients with dolichoectasia. Conclusions—: Dolichoectasia is associated with imaging markers of small vessel disease and brain stem localization of acute and old infarcts in younger patients with transient ischemic attack and ischemic stroke. Clinical Trial Registration—: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00414583.