Correlation of Adventitial Vasa Vasorum with Intracranial Atherosclerosis: A Postmortem Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background and purpose

Vasa vasorum (VV) have been believed to be rare or non-existent in small-caliber intracranial arteries. In a series of human cerebral artery specimens, we identified and examined the distribution of VV in association with co-existing intracranial atherosclerosis.

Methods

We obtained cerebral artery specimens from 32 consecutive autopsies of subjects aged 45 years or above. We scrutinized middle cerebral artery (MCA), vertebral artery (VA), and basilar artery (BA) for the presence of adventitial VV. We described the distribution of VV, and the characteristics of co-existing atherosclerotic lesions.

Results

Among 157 intracranial arteries, adventitial VV were present in 74 of the 157 specimens (47%), involving MCA (n=13, 18%), BA (n=14, 19%), and

SUBMITTER: Zheng L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6186920 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature