Intracranial large artery embolism due to carotid thrombosis caused by a neck massager:A case report

BACKGROUND There are few reported cases of intracranial large artery embolism due to carotid thrombosis caused by a neck massager.Herein we report such a case.CASE SUMMARY A 49-year-old woman presented with left limb weakness and dysarthria after a history of neck massage for 1 mo.Neurological examination showed left central facial paralysis and left hemiparesis with a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of 12.Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed restricted diffusion on diffusion-weighted imaging in the right parietal and temporal lobes.Computed tomography angiography(CTA)indicated M3 segment embolism of the right middle cerebral artery.Neck CTA revealed thrombosis of the bilateral common carotid arteries.Carotid ultrasound showed thrombosis in the bilateral common carotid arteries(approximately 2 cm below the proximal end of the carotid sinus),and contrast-enhanced ultrasound did not suggest enhancement.No hypertension,diabetes,heart disease,vasculitis,or thrombophilia was found after admission.After 1 wk of treatment with aspirin 200 mg and atorvastatin 40 mg,a carotid ultrasound reexamination showed that the thrombosis had significantly reduced.CONCLUSION Neck massager may cause carotid artery thrombosis.

The application value of TCD combined with CDUS in the large artery atherosclerosis

Objective:To explore the value of TCD and CDUS on diagnosis of large artery atherosclerosis.Methods:In our study,90 patients who had been admitted to our hospital and diagnosed as LAA according to CISS typing were selected as the research object.A retrospective analysis was conducted,using CTA as golden standard for diagnoses of stenoses.Explore the risk factors of LAA,the reliability of TCD and CDUS in diagnosis of the stenosis and distribution of stenosis in each vessel.Results:Hypertension and type 2 diabetes are risk factors of LAA vascular stenosis.Middle cerebral artery stenosis detection by TCD carries the highest reliability(sensitivity 90.91%,specificity 97.89%,positive predictive value 96.15%,the negative predictive value was 94.9%,the positive likelihood ratio was 43.18,negative likelihood ratio 0.09,Kappa=0.9).The consistency of TCD is as good as CTA in head and neck part.The negative coincidence rate was higher in the anterior circulation vessels(97.98%),followed by the coincidence rate of severe stenosis(95.23%).However,the detection rate of posterior circulation vessels positive,moderate and severe stenosis,mild stenosis gradually decreased by TCD.CDUS carries general reliability in detecting intracranial extracranial stenosis,the highest reliability in internal carotid artery(kappa 0.82),and the worst consistency in vertebral artery(kappa 0.38).The negative coincidence rate of CDUS in extracranial cerebrovascular stenosis was highest(97.22),followed by the overall compliance rate(91.55%).242 branches of vascular stenosis were discovered in our study,among which intracranial artery stenosis 61.15%(148/242)is higher than that in extracranial artery 38.85%(90/242),ratio of moderate to severe stenosis is as high as 82.23%(199/242).Intracranial artery stenosis in ICA is extremely common(51.11%,46/90),and MCA is the common area of intracranial artery stenosis(37.16%,55/148).Conclusions:(1)Hypertension,type 2 diabetes are risk factors for LAA stenosis.(2)TCD detection of intracranial vascular stenosis carries the best consistency,and reliability of MCA is the highest.In our search,MCA possesses the highest rate of stenosis,and negative coincidence rate by TCD examination was the highest,which could be used for screening method for stenosis.The reliability of TCD in diagnosis of moderate and severe stenosis was relatively better than mild stenosis.(3)CDUS detection of anterior circulation lesions is better than that of posterior circulation lesions.Evaluate effect on moderate and severe stenosis was better than that of mild one.The ratio of ICA stenosis was the highest,but the effect on VA was poor.(4)The incidence of intracranial vascular stenosis is more common than that of the intracranial vascular stenosis.

The regulatory variant rs17612742 confers the risk of large artery atherosclerotic stroke by increasing the expression of endothelin receptor type A

Genome-wide association studies have found that rs17612742 increases the risk of large artery atherosclerotic stroke.The rs17612742 was located in the intron region of Endothelin receptor type A(NRA),which was cellular and gender-heterogeneous.Functional genomics studies of rs17612742 were carried out through some public databases,and it was found that rs17612742 was located in the chromatin open region and promoted the expression of NRA.Compared with the control group,EDNRA expression increased in middle cerebral artery occlusion exposed rodents.However,age heterogeneity of EDNRA expression under physiological and pathological conditions was not observed.In addition,we also discussed how to conduct further empirical studies to provide evidence that rs17612742 confers the risk of large artery atherosclerotic stroke by increasing the expression of NRA.

Association between large artery stenosis,cerebral small vessel disease and risk of ischemic stroke

We aimed to assess the associations of large artery stenosis(LAS)and cerebral small vessel disease(CSVD)with the risk of ischemic stroke and to investigate their respective and combined contributions.In the prospective population-based Shunyi Study,1,082 stroke-free participants aged 55.9±9.1 years were included.Participants were followed for incident stroke throughout the study period(2013-2019).Total small vessel disease score was used to measure CSVD burden.Cervico-cerebral large artery stenosis was evaluated via brain magnetic resonance angiography and carotid ultrasound.We estimated the risk of ischemic stroke in relation to LAS and CSVD with Cox regression models.During a mean follow-up of 4.2 years,34 participants(3.1%)experienced at least one ischemic stroke.Severe LAS(≥50% stenosis versus no stenosis:HR=3.27(95%CI:1.31-8.18))and high CSVD burden(total small vessel disease score 2-4 versus 0 point:HR=12.73(4.83-33.53))were associated with increased stroke risk independently.In multivariate models,CSVD burden(7.72%)explained a larger portion of the variation in stroke risk than severity of LAS(3.49%).Our findings identified that both LAS and CSVD were associated with future ischemic stroke in asymptomatic subjects,while those with high CSVD burden deserve more attention in primary prevention of stroke.

Subintimal recanalization for non-acute occlusion of intracranial vertebral artery in an emergency endovascular procedure:A case report

BACKGROUND Endovascular recanalization of non-acute intracranial artery occlusion is technically difficult,particularly when the microwire enters the subintima.Although the subintimal tracking and re-entry technique has been well established in the endovascular treatment of coronary artery occlusion,there is limited experience with its use in intracranial occlusion due to anatomical variations and a lack of dedicated devices.CASE SUMMARY A 74-year-old man was admitted to the hospital two days after experiencing acute weakness in both lower extremities,poor speech,and dizziness.After admission,imaging revealed acute ischemic stroke and non-acute occlusion of bilateral intracranial vertebral arteries(ICVAs).On the fourth day of admission,the patient's condition deteriorated and an emergency endovascular recanalization of the left ICVA was performed.During this procedure,a microwire was advanced in the subintima of the vessel wall and successfully reentered the distal true lumen.Two stents were implanted in the subintima.The patient's Modified Rankin Scale was 1 at three months postoperatively.CONCLUSION We present a technical case of subintimal recanalization for non-acute ICVA occlusion in an emergency endovascular procedure.However,we emphasize the necessity for caution when applying the subintimal tracking approach in intracranial occlusion due to the significant dangers involved.

Nine-year clinical outcomes of drug-eluting stents vs. bare metal stents for large coronary vessel lesions

Objectives To evaluate the very long-term safety and effectiveness of drug-eluting stents （DES） compared to bare-metal stents （BMS） for patients with large coronary vessels. Methods From April 2004 to October 2006, 2407 consecutive patients undergoing de novo lesion percutaneous coronary intervention with reference vessel diameter greater than or equal to 3.5 mm at Fu Wai Hospital in Beijing, China, were prospectively enrolled into this study. We obtained 9-year clinical outcomes including death, myocardial infarction （MI）, thrombosis, target lesion revascularization （TLR）, target vessel revascularization （TVR）, and major adverse cardiac events （MACE, the composite of death, MI, and TVR）. We performed Cox＇s proportional-hazards models to assess relative risks of all the outcome measures after propensity match. Results After propensity scoring, 514 DES-treated patients were matched to 514 BMS-treated patients. The patients treated with BMS were associated with higher risk ofTLR （HR： 2.55, 95%CI： 1.520-4.277, P = 0.0004） and TVR （HR： 1.889, 95%CI： 1.185-3.011, P = 0.0075）, but the rates of death/MI and MACE were not statistically different. All Academic Research Consortium definition stent thrombosis at 9-year were comparable in the two groups. Conclusions During long-term follow-up through nine years, use of DES in patients with large coronary arteries was still associated with significant reductions in the risks of TLR and TVR.

Comparative Analysis of General Characteristics of Ischemic Stroke of BAD and non-BAD CISS Subtypes

Summary： Based on the recently proposed Chinese ischemic stroke subclassification （CISS） system, intracranial branch atheromatous disease （BAD） is divided into large artery atherosclerosis （LAA） and penetrating artery disease （PAD）. In the current retrospective analysis, we compared the general charac- teristics of BAD-LAA with BAD-PAD, BAD-LAA with non-BAD-LAA and BAD-PAD with non-BAD-PAD. The study included a total of 80 cases, including 45 cases of BAD and 35 cases of non-BAD. Subjects were classified using CISS system： BAD-LAA, BAD-PAD, non-BAD-LAA and non-BAD-PAD. In addition to analysis of general characteristics, the correlation between the factors and the two subtypes of BAD was evaluated. The number of cases included in the analysis was： 32 cases of BAD-LAA, 13 cases of BAD-PAD, 21 cases of non-BAD-LAA, and 14 cases of non-BAD-PAD. Dia- betes mellitus affected more non-BAD-LAA patients than BAD-LAA patients （P=0.035）. In comparison with non-BAD-PAD, patients with BAD-PAD were younger （P=-0.040）, had higher initial NIHSS score （P〈0.001） and morbidity of ischemic heart disease （P=0.033）. Within patients with BAD, the PAD sub- type was associated with smoking （OR=0.043; P=0.011）, higher low-density lipoprotein （OR=5.339; P=0.029）, ischemic heart disease （OR=9.383; P=0.047） and diabetes mellitus （OR=12.59;P=-0.020）. It was concluded that large artery atherosclerosis was the primary mechanism of BAD. The general char- acteristics showed no significant differences between the CISS subtypes of LAA and PAD within BAD, as well as between the BAD and non-BAD within LAA subtype. Several differences between PAD sub- types of BAD and non-BAD were revealed.

Overview-Research Progress of Leukoaraiosis

In 1987, Hachinski et al. [1] proposed Leukoaraiosis (LA) as an imaging academic term. Since then, LA and other cerebrovascular diseases have become the research focus of scholars at home and abroad. However, the molecular, cellular and pathogenesis of cerebrovascular disease are still unclear. Cerebral small vessel disease is caused by the lesions of perforating arteries, capillaries and veins of the brain. Modern imaging technology makes it possible to classify these diseases that can not be directly distinguished in clinical practice. The imaging features of cerebral infarction include cerebral microvascular atrophy. At present, a large number of studies have been carried out around LA, such as the pathogenesis, risk factors, imaging manifestations and classification, pathophysiological changes, hemodynamics, gene polymorphism and so on. In addition, although LA belongs to the category of cerebral small vessel disease, more scholars believe that there are countless links between large artery atherosclerosis and LA, and to some extent, have the same pathogenesis. This paper reviews the following aspects.

Baroreflex dysfunction in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease （CKD） patients have high cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. The presence of traditional and CKD related risk factors results in exaggerated vascular calcification in these patients. Vascular calcification is associated with reduced large arterial compliance and thus impaired barorefex sensi-tivity （BRS） resulting in augmented blood pressure （BP） variability and hampered BP regulation. Barorefex plays a vital role in short term regulation of BP. This review discusses the normal barorefex physiology, methods to assess baroreflex function, its determinants along with the prognostic significance of assessing BRS in CKD patients, available literature on BRS in CKD patients and the probable patho-physiology of barorefex dysfunction in CKD.

CEREBRAL ARTERY RECONSTRUCTION IN THE TREATMENT OF LARGE AND GIANT INTRACRANIAL ANEURYSMS

From 1978 to 1988, 14 giant intracranial aneurysms(more than 2.4 cm in diameter) and one large aneurysm (1.5cm in diameter) were treated by extracranial/intracranial(EC/IC) bypass or cerebral artery reconstruction. Of theaneurysms, 10 were located at the intracavernous carotid ar-tery (CCA). One of the 10 anourysms was posttraumatic andlocated at both the carotid-ophthalmic artery segment and thebifurcation of the internal carotid artery (ICA). Three wereseen at the middle cerebral artery (MCA) trunk.Theaneurysms were demonstrated by angiography and CTscanning. They were treated with trapping of the aneurysm andsuperficial temporal artery (STA)/middle cerebral artery(STA-MCA) bypass with/without a graft (6 cases), cervicalICA ligation and STA-MCA bypass with / without a graft (6)aneurysm excision with an end-to-end anastomosis of theMCA and a STA-MCA bypass with a graft (1), proximal

ADRA2B gene insertion/deletion polymorphism and artery compliance

Background The ADRA2B gene insertion/deletion （I/D） polymorphism is associated with various cardiovascular and metabolic phenotypes. Large （C1） and small （C2） artery compliance, assessed by pulse wave analysis, is considered as sensitive markers or risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Therefore whether the ADRA2B I/D polymorphism is associated with CI and C2 need to be investigated. Methods A total of 227 men and 243 women were enrolled in a Chinese family-based study. C1 and C2 were measured by pulse wave analysis. ADRA2B genotypes were determined by polymerase chain reaction. Statistical methods included generalized estimation equations and quantitative transmission disequilibrium test. Results The II （31.9%）, ID （46.8%） and DD （21.3%） genotype frequencies were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium （P = 0. 73 ）. The covariates selected by stepwise regression for C1 and C2 were age, systolic pressure and gender. The population based association analysis showed that C1 and C2 were not associated with ADRA2B genotype both before （C1 ： P =0. 28; C2： P =0. 27） and after （C1 ： P =0. 58; C2： P =0. 18） the adjustment. The family-based analyses of 128 informative offspring showed that transmission of the D-allele was not associated with C1 orC2, both before （CI： P=0.42; C2： P=0.85） and after （CI： P=0.31; C2： P= 0. 82） the adjustment. Conclusion The study do not support that the ADRA2B gene I/D polymorphism has a major gene effect on C1 or C2 in the Chinese population of current sample size.

Effect of intensive multifactorial treatment on the intima-media thickness of large arteries in patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objective: To quantify the changes in blood glucose, blood lipids, blood pressure, and the intima-media thickness (IMT) of large arteries in patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus who received either intensive multifactorial treatment or conventional treatment. Methods: Two-hundred and ten patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes mellitus were randomly assigned to two groups: an intensive treatment group (n=110) and a conventional treatment group (n=100). Fasting blood glucose (FBG), glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood pressure, blood lipids [total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein C (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein C (HDL-C)], and IMTs of large arteries (carotid, iliac, and femoral arteries) were determined before and at one and two years after starting treatment. The patients in the conventional treatment group received routine diabetes management in our outpatient department. Targets were established for patients in the intensive treatment group. Their blood glucose, blood lipids, and blood pressure levels were regularly monitored and therapeutic regimens were adjusted for those whose measurements did not meet the target values until all the parameters met the established targets. Within-group and between-group differences were evaluated. Results: A significantly greater percentage of patients in the intensive treatment group had LDL-C levels that reached the target value one year after starting treatment than those in the conventional treatment group (52.04% vs. 33.33%, P<0.05). No significant differences were found be- tween groups for FBG, HbA1c, blood pressure, TG, TC, or HDL-C. The percentages of patients with TG (51.02% vs. 34.48%), TC (52.04% vs. 33.33%), and LDL-C (61.22% vs. 43.67%) who met the respective target values in the in- tensive treatment group were all significantly higher than the corresponding percentages in the conventional treatment group two years after starting treatment (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in the percentages of patients with FBG, HbA1c, and blood pressure values meeting the respective targets between the groups at the two-year follow- up. One year after starting treatment, the LDL-C level, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and the IMTs of the femoral and iliac arteries of the intensive treatment group were significantly lower compared to those of the conventional treatment group (P<0.05), although there was no significant difference in other metabolic parameters. Two years after starting treatment, the TC, LDL-C, blood pressure [systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP], and the IMTs of the carotid and femoral arteries of the intensive treatment group were significantly lower than those of the conventional treatment group (P<0.05). No significant differences in other metabolic parameters existed between the two groups two years after starting treatment. Conclusions: Early comprehensive and intensive treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus can delay or even reverse the increase in IMT of large arteries. Lowering blood pressure and blood lipid regulation in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have great significance in decreasing the risk of diabetes-related macrovascular lesions.