Influence of Vascular Variant of the Posterior Cerebral Artery (PCA) on Cerebral Blood Flow, Vascular Response to CO2 and Static Functional Connectivity.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The fetal origin of the posterior cerebral artery (fPCA) is a frequent vascular variant in 11-29% of the population. For the fPCA, blood flow in the PCA originates from the anterior instead of the posterior circulation. We tested whether this blood supply variant impacts the cerebral blood flow assessed by arterial spin labeling (ASL), cerebrovascular reserve as well as resting-state static functional connectivity (sFC) in the sense of a systematic confound.

Methods

The study included 385 healthy, elderly subjects (mean age: 74.18 years [range: 68.9-90.4]; 243 female). Participants were classified into normal vascular supply (n = 296, 76.88%), right fetal origin (n = 23, 5.97%), left fetal origin (n = 16, 4.16%), bilateral fetal origin (n = 4, 1.04%), and interm

SUBMITTER: Emmert K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4988665 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature