†These authors contributed equally.
The
relationship between the severity of intracranial atherosclerotic disease and the
circle of Willis integrity is unclear. In this brief report, we investigate the
associations between symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic
disease and the integrity of the circle of Willis. Patients with symptomatic
intracranial atherosclerosis were enrolled and underwent intracranial artery
magnetic resonance vessel wall imaging and time-of-flight angiography. The
presence or absence of an intracranial atherosclerotic plaque and its maximum
wall thickness and stenosis were evaluated. The presence or absence of the
A1 segment of the bilateral anterior cerebral arteries (from
the internal carotid artery to the anterior communicating artery segment is
called anterior cerebral artery A1 segment), and anterior
communicating artery, the P1 segment of the bilateral posterior cerebral arteries
(The P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery is a horizontally outward
segment), and bilateral posterior communicating arteries were
determined. The associations of the intracranial plaque
features with the integrity of the circle of Willis were analyzed. Of the 110
recruited subjects (57.2