Intracranial artery calcification and stroke

MCA show calcification along the vessel wall on either side.

Intracranial artery Calcification is a newly identified risk factor of ischemic Stroke.
The calcification in cerebral arteries is understudied, although frequently observed on CT brain.

The study was aimed to assess the incidence of intracranial artery calcification in ischemic stroke patients and to evaluate its correlation with ischemic stroke. Study included ischemic stroke patients and age-gender-matched nonischemic stroke patients referred for CT brain. 175 ischemic stroke patients and 182 controls were enrolled.
The highest prevalence of calcification was seen in intracranial internal carotid artery (80.4%), and less commonly in the vertebral artery (35.6%).
There was a higher prevalence of intracranial artery calcification in ischemic stroke patients than controls.
Hypertension, diabetes, smoking, intracranial artery calcification, hyperlipidemia, and atrial fibrillation were found to be independently associated with ischemic stroke.


Conclusion: 
There is higher incidence of intracranial artery calcification in ischemic stroke patients. 
Besides traditional risk factors, intracranial artery calcification is found to be an independent risk factor of ischemic stroke.

Reference:
Journal of Neuroimaging
Volume 17, Issue 4, pages 300–303, October 2007