Abstract

SURUR, A. et al. Localización y frecuencia de placas ateromatosas intracraneales en pacientes mayores de 40 años. Rev. argent. radiol. [online]. 2014, vol.78, n.4, pp.193-198. ISSN 1852-9992.

Even though intracranial atheromatosis (IA) is a frequent entity, it is undervalued in clinical practice. The technological advances in different radiological methods and especially multislice computed tomography (MSCT) have improved the diagnostic accuracy of this pathology. Objectives: To prove the multislice computed tomography usefulness in intracranial atheromatosis diagnostic, and establish the frequency and location of atheromatous plaques, and also the age and gender distribution. Materials and methods: Two hundred and eighty patients (140 male and 140 female) were studied retrospectively, between October 2011 and March 2012. All of them were more than 40 years old and counted with a brain MSCT without contrast, made it with a Toshiba Aquilion 16 multidetector computer tomograph. Calcium plaques were only evaluated (considering calcium plaques those whose density was over 80 Hounsfield units). Results: It was showed the presence of IA in 65% of the examined patients, being the male gender the mostly affected in a 1.16:1, non significant relation. The most affected vessels in frequency order were carotid siphon and vertebral artery in their V4 segment. Conclusion: The atheromatosis is one of the frequent causes of cerebral stroke. The MSCT is the selected method to determine the location and frequency of the intracranial calcification in a noninvasive way. In the same way as the calcium score, determining the level of calcium in the arteries allows to determine the risk that the patient has of developing vascular complications, in this case in the cerebral territory.

Keywords : Atheromatosis; Intracranial atheromatosis; Cerebral computed tomography.

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